


Connection book one:  initium novum

by PunlordTheGreat



Series: Connection [1]
Category: Creepypasta - Fandom, Homestuck, Invader Zim, Original Work
Genre: AI, Aalva is a badass mom friend and by god am i going to keep that up, Aliens, Alternian trolls - Freeform, Angst, Asexual Character, Asexual Relationship, Autism, Autism Spectrum, Autistic Character, Birthday Parties, Bisexual Character, Blood and Gore, Camping trips, Demons, Depression, Divorce, Dream Sequences Galore, Dreams and Nightmares, Elves, F/F, F/M, Fights, Gen, Genderfluid Character, How Do I Tag, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Internet memes everywhere, Irkens, Koukai is a sassy boi, Lore - Freeform, Lore and plot everywhere!, M/M, Magi's are hella cool, Mild Gore, Mild Language, Multi, Nightmare Fuel, Nightmares, Original Character(s), Original Species, Polyamorous Character, Polyamory, Poppy and Derek are very good birbs, Prophetic Dreams, Racism, Self-Esteem Issues, Self-Harm, Self-Hatred, Self-Insert, Sierra is in for some bullshit, So much angst, Social Anxiety, Songs references, Trans Character, Worldbuilding, break-ups, hints and mentions of emotional abuse, men in black are creepy as hell, mirthful faithful, oh hey look feels, oh hey look its a mysterious shadowy figure! wonder what's that gonna lead to eventually?, oh look an undertale monster oc! wonder where she came from, oh look house's made out of plants, plot heavy, sibling fighting sequence, sierra has alot of feelings toward being on a new planet without her friends and family, slavery mention and past slavery mention, taz don't hack the Ai please, the irl ones are at least, tommy bone and elkwood are a cute couple and all i want is for them to be happy, welcome to the rabbit hole, wonder where that came from?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2020-07-08 11:15:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 22
Words: 204,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19868722
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PunlordTheGreat/pseuds/PunlordTheGreat
Summary: What will a normal 21 year old girl named Sierra do when during her and her girlfriend's 22nd birthday camping trip brings to light some interesting other worldly problems into light. Introducing Marian an alien called daemon's, and her journey with Sierra to her home planet. Where Sierra May discover more than she really had wanted to know about herself and her family's line[this is a rough draft of a story that I've had in my mind for the past four years at most, and it is a self insert story done right. I will polish each chapter occasionally whenever i decide to read over each chapter to fix them up, tags will be added as the story goes on. I plan on eventually making this a book series one day](also this story deal's with extremely sensitive topics, from depression and those dealing with it, racism, suicidal thoughts, gender, sexuality, self-hateful thoughts, emotional abuse, blood, gore, and several others that i will add to the tags as it comes up)Comments and helpful writing tips are welcome





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> so this story was originally on wattpad, and I've been working on this since high school of all things. the story has changed drastically from what it was when i first came up with the story. I will also eventually make a tumblr to post character design's, species for this work and information about the world that the story takes part in.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sierra has always had odd dreams for as long as she could remember, many good few she remembers and many bad as well. none of them are as odd as her dreams that seem to real to be just something that her unconscious mind conjures up while she sleeps her nights away. she always tells herself she's fine and that everything will be fine even though she knows all to well what really happens is something far worse much to her chagrin. then again she was never a good liar let alone to herself. (updated 3/18/2020)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this story was originally on wattpad, and I've been working on this since high school of all things. the story has changed drastically from what it was when i first came up with the story. I will also eventually make a tumblr to post character design's, species for this work and information about the world that the story takes part in. if anyone want's to check out the wattpad version of the story here's the link: https://www.wattpad.com/myworks/184054135-connection-book-one  
> i will most often update the wattpad version more than the Ao3 one as i have the wattpad app and haven't yet gotten the Ao3 one.

Sierra wasn't one to have vivid dreams all to often, even less so dreams she remembered when she woke up. Only ever really recalling faints images and feelings from most of them. Wisps of sights and sounds that her subconscious had conjured up while she slept. That she didn't mind to much, it was the dreams she remembered all too well that worried her. The many dreams she could remember very well were less than pleasant most of the time, strange Tim burton-esqe nightmares where everything and anything was possible. A faint nightmare that she could remember that she had one time all the way back in fifth grade during a weekend she had spent with just her and her mother. The night before she had fallen asleep was less than pleasant before hand, thanks to many horror movies previews showing up on a channel she and her mother had been watching a show on. A preview for a saw movie having been one of them, it wasn't the preview itself that spooked her. It had been the damn jigsaw puppet's face that had frightened her that night. She struggled that night when she attempted to sleep but images of a giant Chameleon with jigsaws stupid face on it had shaken her subconscious. After four or three times she had struggled fitfully to attempt falling asleep before she finally gave up and decided to shamefully ask her mom if she could sleep in her bed.

The other dreams she could remember well were more realistic, visions of school desks that she would sit at in school, or a task she would be doing, or of a conversation she'd have. All of which eventually would occur in the waking world and with it the strange yet now common feeling of déjà vu that she was now comfortable with, due to having dealt with the feeling so many times in her life. Then were the last ones; the ones that she could never forget in her life, a dream of a field full of flowers and peaceful birdsong, or the one where she'd travel through the forest to a beach where her spirit animal would often be there awaiting her. Than there was of course the ones she'd want to forget the most, a vast blackness that would swallow her up as she seemed to fall forever into eternity, or her least favorite one of them all. The one and only dream she ever had consecutively.

for her entire junior year of high school straight without fail, a dream that had felt too real and had frightened her so much whenever she thought about it. The dream was always the same; her standing alone in a treeless field, feet burning as they touched the ground. A hellish heat that seemed far too real to be fake; then of course the blood red sky with the sun a giant ball of white light in the center of it. Then laid out before her would be the hundreds upon hundreds of torn and mangled bodies that surrounded her. Arms bent in impossible directions, legs seemingly ripped into pieces, bodies and lower halves torn open and ripped apart organs splayed about around them; viscera covering the ground heavily, and the faces. For some reason that she could never get behind, the faces of the bodies were always intact, as if she needed to see them; hair sprawled around their faces that were always wearing the same expressions. Ones of pure animalistic fear, anger, and a deep aching sorrow she hoped to never be capable of understanding fully. Even worse was that many of the bodies were of people she knew in the waking world. Her mother's tangled and desecrated corpse twisted at an horrid angle, head staring up at the sky eyes wide and unseeing. Then were the many faces of people she had never met in her life, even the face of one of the friends she made the very next year was among them; long curly red hair framing her face that was twisted into one of pure morning.

Of course Sierra would be the only one standing before them all. Dressed in nothing but a white knee length dress, her long dirty blond hair blowing in the wind as she would stare on in horror at the nightmare before her. Only then would the voices speak, near ethereal voices would come from nowhere and scream out how it was her fault for the massacre before her. She of course would feel the burning heat around her even more intense than before as they would yell louder words of blame and hatred towards her. Then she would see the cloaked figure before her, the only other figure standing in the field. Their hood obscuring their face as she would yell in pain and mourning.

"why!!"

The figure always said nothing and would begin to take off their hood to reveal their face but Sierra always seemed to wake up at that point without fail. Even nearly six years later she struggled to bury the memory of that dream as much as she could.

But of course she never had that nightmare of a dream again, after a whole year of losing sleep because of it. The dream simply stopped one day a week before she started her senior year. She never questioned it, just took the now peaceful and serene dreams she had now. Dreams of falling in a never ending void still happened, as did others, but thankfully much too her gratitude the dream she had for that whole year never showed it's face again. Only feelings of unease would raise its head whenever she saw an open field, or the rare occasion she would be drifting off daydreaming and would blink to see the world in front of her change briefly into the red nightmarish world from her dream. Only for her to rub at her eyes or close them briefly before looking again and seeing the world returned to how it was before.

A part of her prayed that the dream wasn't of the future or something of the sort. She had spent long nights avoiding sleep during her senior year in an attempt to forget the world she had seen in her dreams. She had told her family members that she thought would care, about her dream and her worries that it was an omen for what was to come in the future. But they simply told her that it had been an awful nightmare. even though a deep primal part of her demanded that she say something to them. In the end she gave up telling her family about it and decided she'd only tell those she trusted that wouldn't brush her worries off. She told her girlfriend Samantha, her friends she held close to her heart, and they all listened to her more than her own family ever did. She still had her visions on a regular basis, along with the strained emotional pain and anger she'd feel one day and feel sad and mournful the next moment. A sadness that seemed to last for days on end no matter what she did to attempt cheering herself up.

She always chalked it up to her depression, but the assumption would always go away when she'd hear about the newest set of bad news that would finally reach her. Migraines and panic that she would feel when the London bombings would happen. Great sadness that would fill her when she'd wake up the day that the France bombings happened. Feelings she'd feel before news of said events would even reach her. After a while of events like that, she eventually just stopped feeling them so strongly and she'd feel empty for the rest of the day. An emptiness that she despised with a burning passion. She eventually just ignored the feelings she'd feel toward the bombings and terrorist attacks.

She just didn't care about a lot of things on earth anymore. She only cared about those she loved, and the few hobbies she had. She would brush off every new horrible thing she'd hear from the news and would turn around and drown herself in music and story's that could take her away from the world briefly. Cartoons and comics took her attention, internet memes and jokes were her escape. Her self deprecating jokes her outlet that all of her family seemed to grimace at, but she didn't care. She hadn't cared about herself for a long time, only cared that she had to make sure that she didn't die yet. She still had people who cared for her so she would paint on a mask of a clown that laughed obnoxiously at bad puns and dad jokes. All to make those around her comfortable, to her that was all she cared for. As long as Sierra Mitchell could make someone smile and laugh she'd be happy and content to ignore the gnawing feeling that there was somewhere else she could be, making a name for herself.

She didn't mind that she was working a minimum wage job at a dollar store, she didn't care that she was living in an apartment that was nearly two blocks from her job, and she definitely didn't care about how claustrophobic everything was around her.  
It didn't and it never would.  
She was fine.  
Everything was fine.

Than again,   
She never was all too great at lying to herself.


	2. Chapter 1: a classic birthday camping trip with friends and loved ones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sierra has an odd dream that she feels like it may have a deeper meaning, and pancakes and the preparation's for a week long birthday party are finished.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> only thing that are even close to my irl life in this story are some of the people, their behavior, and the rough descriptions of them.

Sierra grinned warmly as she flew in the bright blue sky that she was surrounded by. Cotten candy-esqe clouds billowed around her, soft birdsong spilling from her lips as she flew and glided in the dream's sky. She always loved it whenever she had a dream that she could control to some extent. This had to be her favorite dream by far compared to her other ones. She was a little confused by the giant lunar moth wings that she had sprouting from her back of course, the three extra eyes, moth antennae, and finally the two extra pairs of arms she had along the sides of her torso. She was surprised by them but brushed them off as something symbolic or something dumb like that. So she just focused on flying and how right it felt. From what she could faintly remember from the past dreams she had in the past she always had awful flying dreams. Ones where she would just float statically and stiff, or ones where she fell into a never ending black abyss. But this kind of dream flying she could get used to, dives and barrel rolls were performed with ease by her as she glided over clouds and dove her hands into the dream clouds and pull back handfuls of pink, blue and lilac colored Cotten candy that was so light and sweet to taste when she took bites of them. Eventually a large forest appeared underneath her flying form. She giggled as she dove and weaved in between the treetops of towering redwoods and strangely tall oaks, elms and birch's. But she didn't care. It was a dream after all anything was possible in it after all.

She dove underneath the layers of leaves and branches towards the ground floor where hundreds of small bioluminescent flowers grew and bloomed everywhere. Pink and blue lights shone brightly in the dim lighting of the ground floor. A dim memory of the jungles in Africa and Madagascar and how dark the ground floor of them could get. She smiled at the memory, learning about animals and their environments had always been one of her favorite things to learn about. She landed eventually in a large patch of the glowing flowers, birdsong still spilling from her lips as she laid down onto her back and stared up at the treetops above her. Small gaps in between the leaves and branches of the towering trees allowed small pricks of light to seep through. Making the treetops from the dim forest floor, look like a starry night sky. 

Sierra sighed deeply, feeling truly content as she laid on her back. Butterflies spilling from her lips as she sighed. She watched wide eyed in wonder as the butterflies fluttered around her. Monarchs and blue winged morphos flitted about her head, small yellow winged butterflies flew to and from each glowing flower. Sierra giggled at the few butterflies that crawled onto her cheeks and nose. Her giggles that spilled out rang out like bells, she closed her eyes as she spread out her arms and stretched them before she opened her eyes again. Frowning when she heard the sound of twigs snapping behind her, the human sat up straight as she heard it again. Sierra's mind filled with memories of past nightmares, twisted images and horrid sounds and feelings that she'd rather ignore. She looked behind her and saw a small child.

The child was so small and strange looking, pale white skin that seemed to glow faintly in the dark of the forest. Their eyes large and doe like as they glowed a bright solid white, and to top it all off was the long white sleeveless dress they wore that went down to their ankles. As soon as Sierra spotted them the child ran into the forest, bioluminescent flowers glowing brighter as the child ran through them. Sierra quickly got to her feet and ran after the child, butterflies still fluttering around her face and hair. Her wings that had once been on her back were now long gone as if they had fallen off when she had landed. She followed after the child following the path the child had left amongst the flowers the child laughing brightly with the sound of bells and wind chimes as they glanced back at Sierra who ducked and jumped over branches and bramble that had begun to appear around her. the flowers beginning to grow larger around her, legs pumping faster and faster to catch up to the child with their laughter full of wind chimes.

"W-wait!, please come back!"

She cried out as the flowers around her started to go dark one by one. Vines and bramble branches grabbing at her with thin hands made of thorns and sticky vines. She cried out as the butterflies flitting around her head fell one by one to the ground, dead and lifeless. She ran faster, lungs burning and legs sore and becoming a blur of movement underneath her. She grew scared that if she ran any faster her legs would run off without her.

Eventually the child stopped abruptly and spun around to face her, but the child had suddenly turned into an adult. Even odder was that it had turned into a near identical image of her, doe like eyes behind glasses and long dirty blonde hair reaching the mirrored version of herself's rear. She took a step forward toward the strange version of herself, who simply smiled widely at the movement. The smile too wide and revealing far too many teeth to be normal. Sierra felt tears welling up in her now regular two eyes,

"why do you look like me?"

She asked voice falling silent as she took another step forward, the forest around them being replaced with a vast black emptiness that Sierra was all too familiar with. The ground under her bare feet changed to something more like solid liquid that left ripples as she stepped onto it. The mirror spoke with their teeth now sharp and thin,

"who are you?"

They asked smiling widely as they spoke their voice echoing around the two of them. Sierra fell silent, she no longer felt content and in control over this dream. She could faintly hear a ringing that was familiar, but she couldn't place why it was. The mirror smiled widely again, smile seeming to grow wider at the sound.

"Wake up"

they said with a giddiness in there voice.

"Wake up"

they said again louder and the tone of there voice changing to sound more annoyed.

"Wake up, Wake up, Wake up"

the mirror's words were on repeat the words sounding more and more angry and agitated with each word spoken.

"WAKE UP!"

The mirror finally screamed as the sound of sierra's phone alarm became clear. And the world around the two of them shattered as Sierra woke up.

"I'm up I'm up"

Sierra slurred as she opened up her eyes blearily, vision blurry. She glared daggers at her phone that was currently playing the annoyingly loud chiming music that was her alarm.

"Fuckin' be quiet please"

she mumbled sleepily as she grabbed her phone and turned it on, her thumbprint unlocking the phone. Once the phone unlocked she quickly turned off the alarm, silencing the torment that was her alarm.

"Your reign of terror is over now you lil' shit"

She slurred as she squinted at her phone trying to see what the time currently was. The cold harsh white '7:30 am' was all she was rewarded for.

"Why did I wanna get up at 7:30 in the morning again?"

She asked as she rubbed at her face, struggling to remember what she had planned for today.

"Shit!"

The dirty blonde yelled as she sat upright quickly grabbing at her glasses, her ring hanging on by one of the folded hinges of her glasses.

"Crap crap crap, fuck my life!"

She continued on as she stumbled out of her bed, her comforter still clinging onto her body as she moved quickly.

'How the hell could I forget that today's me and sam's birthday trip!'

She asked herself mentally berating herself for forgetting about such an important event. She quickly wrapped her blanket around her shoulders as she opened her rooms door, and entered into the duplex's hallway, the kitchen and living room across from the hallways doorway. The faint sounds of cooking and Hamilton music playing quietly, and of course the sounds of talking from the three other occupants of the dulplex.

'Shit their already awake'

Sierra thought grimacing at the idea of being the last to wake up.

"Oh well, better late then never."

She whispered to herself in an attempt to comfort herself from the already growing feeling of guilt she was feeling at being the last one in the house to wake up. 

"Hey guys"

she said smiling sleepily as she walked into the kitchen to the sight of Roderick and Tim going over the plans for the camping trip that would last for the next week, while the back of Samantha was in front of the stovetop oven, sounds of pancake batter sizzling as it hit the heated pan. Tim waved from where he sat at the medium sized table that they had gotten for a kitchen table.

"Look who's finally decided to wake up."

The African American spoke as he smirked at Sierra's form that stood in the doorway.

"Fuck off, it's too early in the morning to deal with this shit."

Sierra said halfheartedly as she sat down on the lamented floor of the kitchen beside Samantha's form that was flipping pancakes with a small yet tired smile. Faint dark circles under her eyes, a sign of another night of insomnia.

"Who's smart idea was it even to get up at 7:30 in the morning?"

She asked agitated as she covered her face with her hands earning a chuckle from the two men sitting at the table.

"If I remember clearly, that was your idea."

Roderick said smiling amused a chuckle clear in his voice.

"Oh yeah"

she said childishly a sheepish smile on her lips.

"that's right I did suggest the time didn't I?"

She said sighing exasperated at the sluggish feeling she was dealing with from having just woke up.

'Remind me next time you two to not do stupid stuff like suggesting early ass times for a trip that's starts on a Saturday of all days please'

she said in her head before the two voices of iris and Rosanna spoke up clear as day in her head.

'Dunno kid, it was your idea after all, not my fault your making crazy time choices'

iris said chuckling at the glare that Sierra had sent at the two men sitting at the table.

'I agree with iris on this dear, you did come up with the plan to have a camping trip with most of your friends for you and Samantha's birthday.'

Rosanna's calm and cheerful voice said a smile clear in her tone. 

'Yeah I know, I just wish i didn't have to get up so damn early though'

Sierra thought as she glanced up at sam's face.

"Hey hun how did you sleep last night?, you look kinda tired"

She asked worry for her girlfriend coming to the forefront of her mind. Samantha always had a difficult time falling asleep at a normal time thanks to her insomnia, the lack of sleep the short haired girl had gave her dark circles around her eyes that always seemed to be ever prominent on her. Some days they were faint and barely visible, other days they were dark and noticeable. At least to Sierra they were, and they always made her worry for sam's health and well being.

"It was alright hun, didn't sleep too bad last night"

Sam said smiling down at Sierra from where she sat on the floor.

"That's good, I slept alright. Had a weird dream though"

she said smiling up at her girlfriend. Samantha raised an eyebrow at the dream comment,

"really what was it about?"

She asked curiously as she flipped two more pancakes. Over the years that Sam and Sierra has known each other Samantha had always been the more serious about whatever dreams either of them had, no matter how small and meaningless the dream may have seemed. Sierra paused, thinking carefully

'what was that dream even?, I haven't had a dream like that in messiahs knows how long'

she thought to herself. Waves of concern rising in herself, what if it was another dream like the apocalypse one? Did she need to be worried?

She brushed off her worries quickly so as to not worry the other two tenants who stared at her curious glints in there eyes.

"Well it was something that's for sure"

she said tentatively concern for the dream welling up again.

"I mean it wasn't anything to interesting other than how well I can remember it."

She said tacking on quickly before Samantha grew worried for her mental state. Everyone stayed silent waiting for her to explain the dream further, the words and feelings of the dream welling up again.

"I was flying in it, and there were these clouds made out of Cotten candy"

she said frowning at how odd that sounded.

"At least I think it was cotton candy?"

She hurriedly tacked on.

"And I had these giant lunar moth wings and extra eyes and arms for some reason?"

Her eyebrows furrowed as she spoke about the dream more. The odd details of it causing a slight pit to form in her stomach.

"And I flew for awhile until a huge forest appeared out of fucking nowhere underneath me!"

The tired 21 year old said voice filled with excitement at the feeling that she remembered how good flying had felt.

"It was so amazing the flying had felt so real too!, and I wasn't even that scared that I would fall."

She said a wide closed lipped smile gracing her lips as she spoke fondly of the dream.

"I mean any kind of flying sounds pretty cool, to be honest."

Roderick said smiling fondly at Sierra as she had started to get louder in her excitement of the dream. The heavyweight Hispanic smiled as he watched Sierra Go on about her dream.

"Well anyway I was I think talking in birdsong or something like that, but I flew underneath the treetops and there were hundreds of these tiny little glowing flowers growing everywhere on the forest floor."

She said sighing softly at the image that was imprinted in her mind, the softly lit forest floor from her dream. A sense of serene peace filling her at the memory. Sam chuckled at Sierra's excitement as she placed two now finished pancakes on top of the now two small stacks of twelve pancakes.

"It was so breathtaking, I swear I'm going to paint a picture of it."

The now energetic girl promised, a look of determination growing on her face as she spoke. 

"Do it then, I think the place could use another painting or two"

Tim said chuckling as he stood up from the table and went to grab a paper plate from the cabinet beside Sierra.

"Fuck yeah I'll do it!, I'll probably have to remember to start on it after tonight's party though."

She said calming down at the realization that they did have a party planned for tonight after all. Her words earning a laugh from both Roderick and Samantha as she spoke. The blush that rose fourth at the sounds of laughter made her chuckle abashed at her eagerness to paint and draw the concept for her new painting in the making.

"Maybe I should add it to the story I'm writing?"

She offered looking to Sam for suggestions. A simple nod and smile was what she earned.

"I think your readers would love that addition to your story hun."

Sam smiled as she took the paper plate from Tim and asked

"how many?"

To the taller African American.

"Two will be fine for now, knowing Sierra and her appetite she'll eat most of the pancakes you made Sam"

he said laughing good naturally at the glare Sierra sent his way.

"Fuck you, i don't eat that much!"

She raised her voice irritated at the jab.

"Oh really back when we first started hanging out again when you first got your job, you could eat a whole bucket of popcorn from the movie theater all by yourself and still be hungry for McDonald's."

He shot at her giving a small smug smile to her. 

'He's got you there fam'

iris said laughter in her voice as she spoke.

"Fuck you!, you you weeaboo!"

Sierra shot back trying to shoot out her best glare but probably only succeeding in looking more like a pouting child. One of the many downfalls of acting like a child half the time.

"Says the my hero academia fangirl."

He shot back stepping away from her as Sierra stood up fuming at the jab.

"You motherfucker!"

She shouted as he quickly darted out of the room as she began to chase after him. Leaving Sam and Roderick laughing wholeheartedly and shaking there heads at the light hearted jabbing that the two continued to shoot back at each other as they ran around the dulplex. 

After a half hour of Sierra wrestling with Tim, which led to him tickling Sierra until she begged for the taller to let go of her. Afterward the four sat at the kitchen table and ate the pancakes Samantha made with relish.

"Honeybun, these pancakes are the best ever, sweet blessed messiahs."

Sierra said as she ate her fourth pancake eagerly, all the while typing away at the notes on her phone. The rough draft for her story's next chapter wasn't going to write itself after all. All the while pausing to switch to another page of notes she had on her phone to type down references and story ideas that could be implemented into the story she was writing. Samantha chuckled at her girlfriend's antics as she ate,

"thank you hun, though you might want to finish up the rest of your pancakes quickly before they get cold."

She suggested as she picked up her now empty paper plate.

"Shit sorry hun, wanted to write down about the forest for amara's story"

Sierra said as she turned off her phone and quickly finished off the last few bites of pancake that she had left on her plate.

"It's no problem hun"

Sam smiled as she grabbed sierra's now empty plate,

"did you want anymore?"

She asked as she picked up Tim and Roderick's now empty plates as well.

"Nah I'm stuffed for now but thank you sam"

the younger of the two said smiling warmly at her. 

"So what else do we gotta do for the trip?"

Sierra asked as she helped put up the leftover pancakes that went into a small plastic ziplock bag that was promptly put into the food cooler the four had gotten earlier that month for said trip.

"We'll probably need to make sure that everyone knows where we're meeting up at of course, in case anyone forgot."

Sam said as she picked up two overfilled backpacks from the floor.

"Yeah we don't want another search party for any of your friends again Sierra"

tim shot out as he picked up the trash bag from the kitchen trash can, and proceed to tie the bag closed. Heat raised to her cheeks at the jab, embarrassment of the last party reeling its heinous face again after a year.

"Okay well you got me there but that was not my fault, how was I supposed to know that Kasliy was going to head over where the lake was, opposite of where we were?"

Sierra said grimacing with a ever deepening blush on her face.

"Maybe because you didn't give clear enough directions?"

Tim said again as he headed to the dulplex's front door trash bag in hand.

"Anyway, regardless just try to not give vague directions again today. I mean if your confused about what to tell them just ask Sam for help."

He said as he opened the door and went outside to the front. She sighed in resignation at the suggestion, as she glanced towards Samantha a knowing smile on the others face.

"It's alright hun, I know you were trying to make sure that everyone knew where the party was last year. Maybe it just wasn't the clearest for everyone?"

Sam said smiling reassuring the other.

"Besides I don't mind helping you out with this, it is a party for the both of us anyway."

She said as she slung the two backpacks over each shoulder.

"Alright, thanks Sam for the help."

Sierra said guilt of the past incident falling away as she smiled back at the other woman, grabbing ahold of two large suitcases that were on the ground and filled with the clothes the four would be using for the next week. 

Around 9:45 everything was ready for them to start heading out. The RV that Sam owned had there suitcases and backpacks along with the four coolers they had stocked full of water, sodas, food, and snacks, packed inside of it. They would stop by Walmart on there way to the campsite for some more food and snacks of course but they wouldn't have to worry to much about the food until the next morning. After hooking up the RV to Samantha's truck she had gotten from Illinois when she had moved back there two years prior the four made there way into the truck. Sam and Tim in the front seats, while Sierra and Roderick sat in the back. Two bags full of art supplies for both Sierra and Samantha to use during the camping trip, along with three packages containing tents, Several sleeping bags sat in the bed of the truck. While Sierra had of course the one bag She had brought along that mattered the most to her. Her large pink purse. Filled to the brim with her laptop, it's charger, 3ds, games for said system ,notebooks, and of course her mp3, headphones and water bottle.

"Did you have to bring your backpack and a half with you?"

Tim asked from the front passenger seat, as he watched Sierra put the bag down on the foot room in front of her.

"Yes, what if I want to read or draw on the way to the campsite?, also my water bottle is in there."

She said with finality as she sat down on the seat before buckling herself in. Roderick sitting in the seat beside her seconds later. Tim rolled his eyes at the weak argument but didn't push the matter further, simply just shaking his head before buckling himself in as well. 

"Alright are we all ready to go?"

Samantha asked as she buckled herself in, key in the ignition and ready to start the truck for the long trip ahead of them.

"I'm good"

Sierra said smiling as she looked out the window of her seat. The glass fogging up slightly as her hot breath met with slightly chilled glass. It may have been July but Texas was known for its odd weather patterns, at least to Sierra it was.

"You made sure to lock the door right?"

Tim asked Sam while glancing at her.

"Yeah I made sure to, and I made sure to check that's Sierra's pet snails were alright as well."

She said smiling softly at Sierra before she turned back to the steering wheel as she started the car. Roderick smiled before he checked his small bag to make sure that his diabetic medication was in it.

"Yeah I'm good Sam"

he said as he zipped the waterproof bag shut.

"Looks like we're all good sam."

Tim said smiling slightly as he looked at his phone briefly checking the time.

"And we're making good time too, we'll probably have the campsite set up by noon when the first people start coming by."

He said before turning his phone off.

"Don't forget hun, we gotta stop by Morgan's place to pick him up for the trip"

Sierra said quickly remembering to remind one of the loves of her life. 

"Don't worry hun, I didn't forget. Just text him to let him know when we're on our way to his house."

Sam said smiling as she pulled out of the driveway in front of the dulplex the three partners and one friend shared.

"I'm letting him know now honeybun"

Sierra said as she quickly shot a text to her mutual friend. Smiling as she turned to her window and watched as the dulplex became smaller and smaller as they drove further away. a bubble of nerves from the oncoming excitement and joy that came and enveloped her thoughts.

'this party is going to be amazing'

she thought as they drove further and further away until they were out of sight.


	3. Chapter 2: an outdoor party and gay feelings in a public restroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group picks up one of their friend's, set up camp and get ready to party the night away when sierra meets an odd woman in the restroom's at the public campsite setting off a domino effect that effect's the next five years of her life in a way she is on her way to witness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Marian is the first of many non-irl characters that will show up in connection in it's entirety, and is one of the major catalyst's that begin the story.

By the time it was 10:03 they had arrived at Morgan's house, Sierra practically running to the front door of her friends house in her excitement. She had sent another text to the other letting them know they had arrived to pick him up. Sierra had almost made the mistake of sometimes calling Morgan by the wrong pronoun in the text as well, after all of those years of her friend using female pronouns she struggled sometimes when it came to pronouns. To Sierra Morgan was well morgan, neither a he or a she, but instead a friend for life in her eyes. Along with many other people she knew, herself included. She was one to not care to much about what she was called, as long as it wasn't something purposely rude by someone she didn't know. To herself she was just Sierra, from dusk till dawn she was Sierra. Some days she felt more feminine, others she was more masculine, and of course most days she just was well herself. 

She knocked on the door three times before she waited a minute or two before Morgan finally came to the door.

"Hey fam, you got everything for the trip?"

She asked in joy at simply being able to see her middle school friend. Morgan chuckled as he nodded pointing his thumb backwards towards the inside of the house.

"Yeah I got about three bags worth of stuff ready for it, not including the bag of snacks I'm bringing."

He said smiling as he opened the door more. Morgan was one of her few friends who still lived with his parents, not that Sierra judged him because of it. She herself had been living with her parents back when she was 20 years old. She smiled as she went inside to help her friend out with their bags.

"So do I put these in the back of sam's truck or?"

The Mohawked young man asked.

"Yeah that was the plan, or if you want you could put them up in the RV which would save space for the groceries that me and Tim are going to buy after we set up camp."

Sierra smiled as she lifted two of her friends bags, and headed to the door.

"Nice"

he smiled nodding his dark brown Mohawk flopping slightly.

"so where's your parents?, I mean you did let them know where you were going right?"

She asked curiosity and worry mixing and intertwining into a strange concoction of emotions. 

"Oh my mom and Jason know, there probably in the bedroom right now. I'll go let 'em know that your here."

Morgan said as he quickly walked across what was a mix of living room and kitchen. It was still fairly messy as Morgan's house always seemed to be for as long as Sierra had know him, Morgan had always been a bit messier than most of her friends. Not that she judged him to harshly about the way his house looked. She only got worried when her friend didn't take care of his appearance and his eating habits. She had seen Morgan eat a huge bowl of ramen once, but yet despite that fact he seemed to be the skinnier of the three friends consisting of herself, Samantha and Morgan. Which to her was quite ironic considering that Sierra and Sam were both fairly chubby, Sam being the most fittest while Sierra was the chubbiest of them all. 

Sierra smiled as she quickly followed after, hoping to say hello to his parents before they headed out on their venture.

"Nice, I wanna thank them for letting you spend the week with us."

She smiled joy seeming to be oozing out from her every pore. Morgan chuckled at the youngest of the three friends. Sierra always had acted more childish than most adults her age. You could bring up doing taxes or the like and she would upturn her nose slightly at it, but that was more Because of her distaste for doing math and not being the best at it as well. He knocked on the worn white painted door before a muffled voice spoke.

"What?"

A male voice spoke, the loud sounds of video games playing in the background as he spoke.

"Sierra's here to pick me up, she just wanted to say hi to you and mom before we head out."

Morgan said as he looked at the door, making sure to raise his voice loud enough to be heard. The door opened after a second, the sounds of a first person shooting game still playing in the background. The face of Morgan's mom Anna showed up from the opened doorway. Smiling brightly as she saw Sierra,

"oh hi Sierra how are you doing?"

She asked her messy straight long red hair framing her face as it always seemed to do. Sierra smiled kindly at the older woman,

"I'm doing pretty good, so is Sam. I just wanted to thank you and Jason again for letting Morgan come with us to the birthday camp out."

Sierra spoke politely smiling as she looked at Anna. The woman had always been like a second mother to her at times. It had even gotten to the point where she was practically family to them, an adopted sibling to Morgan.

"It's no problem, we know that you'll keep an eye on him. I know that I can trust him with you."

She said as she hugged Sierra with one arm. The newly 22 year old hugged the older woman tightly and with a familiar warmth in her chest that she always got when she felt loved and trusted. She had always felt like that whenever she visited Morgan even when the two had first met and quickly became fast friends. 

After quickly catching up with Jason and Anna, and making sure to let them know where the group was going for the camping trip. Morgan and sierra quickly headed out his bags in tow.

"I swear you talk just as much as your mom nowadays."

Morgan said chuckling as he put his three overnight bags in the bed of Samantha's truck and handed Sierra the large bag filled with bottles of faygo, bags of chips and boxes of snack cakes. Sierra smiled widely at the sodas.

"Oh my god fam you didn't have to get this much faygo."

She said smiling at her middle school friend. Morgan laughed,

"of course I had to, it wouldn't be right if you didn't have any faygo for you and sams birthday. You nerd"

he said chuckling as he lightly punched sierras shoulder causing the other to laugh loudly at the other.

"I think you meant the wicked elixir?"

Sierra said smiling still as she chuckled, raising an eyebrow at Morgan. In response Morgan chuckled a little bit at that before responding again.

"Says the person who wears face paint cause she's in the irl version of gamzee's clown cult."

He said as he smiled his hands on his hip and raising his eyebrows. Sierra frowned a little at the comment at her facepaint, while it was optional at times to wear the facepaint she tended to wear a custom made cloth medical mask that she had painted herself. The only time she ever really wore her face was during renaissance, whenever she was off work, and when she felt happy. Today was a medical mask sort of day, though she did bring her facepaint with her for the trip Incase she felt the need to put on her face.

"Hey you can joke around about my messiahs but you don't have to poke fun at my face. I worked hard for it fam."

Sierra said softly as she put her right hand into her right jean jacket pocket, feeling the soft and worn fabric of her mask. It gave her confidence to know that she was always carrying a piece of her religion wherever she went. Be it her mask, her small purple and yellow stuffed elephant keychain she had attached to her purse handle, or even the small purple and gold notebook she had that was filled with all of her notes and prayers to her messiahs along with copied sermons from her discord chats with her mirthful faithful family. Morgan stopped chuckling as soon as he saw the small frown on Sierra's face, guilt hitting him hard that he had hurt Sierra's feelings even a little bit. Sierra has always been the kind of person that was hard to hate, and easy to love. She was always trying her best to make all of her friends happy and ignoring her own happiness at times. It was a fact that Sierra always seemed to hate herself for almost everything and anything, like how she struggled not hating herself whenever she wanted to be at least a tiny bit selfish.

Morgan bit his lower lip, his hands quickly fiddling around as he grew nervous that he had made Sierra upset.

"Hey I'm sorry for saying that, I didn't mean to say that. I forgot how important your facepaint is to you."

Morgan said looking at Sierra praying to whoever that Sierra wouldn't hold a grudge. If there had been anyone He had met that could hold a grudge for quite awhile it would be Sierra. She smiled softly And forgiving up at him as she quickly pulled out her mask and placed it over her mouth. A cloth medical mask with a thin gray smile painted with two gray circles where her cheeks would be painted onto it with fabric paint that Sierra had bought back when she had first moved out and into her apartment with Tim.

"It's alright fam, I forgive you. I know that you're just a townie to the faith but just please remember that I'm serious about it."

Sierra's voice was barely muffled by the mask as she spoke clearly. Her eyes smiling in forgiveness. Morgan nodded at Sierra as she took the snack filled bag into the RV.

"Alright everything is forgiven and forgotten bro, let's just only think about how awesome this week is going to be alright?"

Sierra said as she jumped from the final step of the RV and hugged Morgan tightly. He smiled and hugged her back nodding all the while. They were family after all, they needed to be there for each other. No matter what happened.

Samantha smiled as they made their way down the dirt road that led to the campsite area that they had rented out for the week. Morgan sat in the back in between Sierra and Roderick the three talking animatedly about what they had planned for the week of camping.

"So today we'll set up and get ready for the party tonight, I made sure to bring some fireworks and party stuff."

Sierra explained her mask pulled down under her chin, bright green blue hazel eyes glimmering excitedly as she spoke.

"I also have my party playlist all set up too!, we all took turns going through my music so that there's a little bit of everything for everyone. Or of course someone could make a playlist of there own, if they really want to?"

Sierra offered as she shrugged smiling sheepishly all the while. Tim spoke up before Morgan could reply.

"Yeah word of warning you might wanna tread carefully when it comes to the music on Sierra's laptop, she's got some"

Tim pauses before chuckling as he finished his sentence.

"Interesting story's saved on there."

He said as Sierra's cheeks flushed darkly the red contrasting vastly with the pale white that made up sierras face.

"Oh my fucking messiahs, tim you fucker. That's why I make sure to have it put into the story's folder you lil' shit!"

Sierra shouted blush darkening as Morgan laughed at the comment.

"If your talking about her nsfw audio of homestuck characters doing the sinful dance then don't worry I already know about that."

He laughed as Sierra groaned in embarrassment at the mention of the very unique audio files Sierra had saved onto her laptop.

"You guys fucking suck"

Sierra said as she threw her head back and groaned out lowly in embarrassment.

'Fucking knew he would say this kinda shit, the fucker.'

Sierra thought as iris and Rosanna chuckled throughout her mind.

'Well you were very into homestuck at the time when you saved those and it has been a long time since you had heard them.'

Rosanna said chuckling as iris howled with laughter. The sound making Sierra groan again.

"You guys suck."

Sierra said aloud the comment directed more towards iris and Rosanna. The comment simply just made everyone in the truck just laugh louder. Sierra sighed as she gave in and began to join in the laughter. It was a pretty funny thing she did back when she was a freshman that she couldn't deny. 

It was 11:36 by the time they had arrived at the campsite, and they had already started on getting the campsite ready for the party tonight. Sierra and Samantha worked on cleaning up the area around and in the campsite, all the while picking up stray sticks and twigs and putting them into a pile for firewood. Roderick and Morgan meanwhile we're setting up the first tent for the campsite, as the tents would be the main shelter for a majority of the others that were on there way. Tim was busy connecting the RV to the waste, water, and electricity that these kinds of campsite's always had.

"Brenna's on her way!"

Sierra shouted as she carried a pile of rocks to the center of the campsite where Samantha was digging a small shallow hole in the ground to be used as a temporary fire pit.

"Nice maybe she can help us get these tents up faster!"

Roderick said as he and Morgan finished setting up the first tent and were already starting on the second one.

"Yeah I brought that up to her, she also said she was bringing a three room tent"

Sierra said smiling as she helped Sam set up the rocks around the fire pit.

"Alright I got the RV's water and waste on, I just got the electricity left to do."

Tim yelled as he opened the front door of the RV.

"Nice, well imma start cleaning the tables and grills."

Sierra said smiling as she stood up and headed inside the RV to grab the Lysol wipes that the four had made sure to bring.

"Alright good luck on that."

Tim said as he stepped off the last step for the RV doors and headed towards where the last connection cord would be. 

By the time Brenna arrived it was already 11:58, and the sun was high in the middle of the sky. A comfortable summer heat was surrounding the campsite. When Sierra heard the telltale sounds of car tires on the dirt path to there campsite she shot up from where she was kneeling before one of the two grills that came with the campsite when they rented it.

"Brenna!"

Sierra shouted as she spotted Brenna's small dark car, a middle sized young woman stepped out of the car as soon as she parked her car beside Samantha's car. Short fiery curly red hair barely reaching her shoulders framed her face as she smiled at the taller dirty blonde who ran to her, arms thrown open in an invitation for a hug.

"Sierra!, how it's going?"

Brenna said as she hugged Sierra briefly before stepping back and smiling at the other.

"It's going pretty good!, we got two tents up so far, and the RV's all connected up. Me and my honeybun made a fire pit for the campfire for when it starts getting dark, and well I was wiping down the tables and grills for tonight."

She said as she gestured to said tables and grills that were on the far end of the campsite. the two tents set up on the opposite side of where the RV was set up at.

"Looks pretty good so far fam."

Brenna said smiling at Sierra.

"Yeah I know we worked pretty hard on it"

at that Sierra's eyes widen in realization.

"Oh that's right you've never met Morgan, you gotta meet him!"

Sierra said as she walked over to where Roderick and Morgan sat at the large concrete table closet to the RV two bottles of water bottles on the table Brenna following behind her. Morgan looked up and smiled waving to Sierra, and then smiling at Brenna kindly.

"Morgan this is Brenna aka the Memelord, you remember me telling you about her right?"

Sierra asked a nervous smile on her face. Nerves filled with worry and the hope that her two friends would get along with each other. Morgan nodded and stood up smiling as he walked to stand beside Sierra.

"Nice, Brenna this is Morgan! One of my friend's I made back in middle school."

She said looking to the redhead. Brenna smiled and waved to the other before chuckling as she spoke.

"Wow middle school must've been really interesting to see middle school Sierra?"

She said glancing at Sierra.

'Oh crap'

Sierra thought to herself. Morgan smiled before speaking.

"yeah some things never seem to change with time for her, for one She's still fandom trash even now."

He said laughing as he spoke. Brenna chuckled at the answer and nodded agreeing.

"Did she ever tell you about how during her senior year when she was like super into gravity falls, she went around drawing tiny bill Cipher's all over the school?"

Brenna said chuckling at the memory. Morgan snorted shooting a look of surprise at Sierra.

"really Sierra, I knew you were crazy for gravity falls at the time but drawing tiny bills over your high school?"

Morgan said a look of disbelief on his face.

"It wasn't in places people would notice, and all of them were pretty tiny"

Sierra said struggling to defend her past actions.

'I mean I wanted to leave some kind of evidence that I was at that school.'

She thought to herself as Morgan laughed at her answer.

"How many did you draw all over the place?"

He asked raising an eyebrow, a blush rose to Sierra's face at the question.

"One hundred of em at least, I think after awhile I did another hundred as well."

Sierra said sheepishly blushing at the memory.

"I do have to admit it was kind of dumb of me to do that. I guess I just wanted to leave a mark that I was there."

She finished explaining her reasoning behind it. Brenna nodded a look of some understanding on her face, while Morgan chuckled at the explanation shaking his head slightly.

"Hey you don't get to judge me you dramatical murder dork! Your dumb anime version of that game cockblocked me with Sam!"

Sierra shouted before wrapping an arm around Morgan's neck and proceeding to give the other a noogie. The male flailing slightly at the sudden attack before laughing loudly at the other. Sierra smiled and laughed loudly with him before releasing him.

"But of course if that didn't happen me and Sam would have never talked about her limits with that kind of stuff."

Sierra smiled widely as she spoke a chuckle still underneath her words. Brenna had watched the whole exchange all the while laughing at the event before smiling before speaking.

"Well what are we waiting for?, let's get these tents set up for the night!"

She exclaimed as Morgan and sierra nodded in agreement.

They had finished setting up the camp by the time Kasliy had arrived in her own car at 12:45pm. Soon after by 1:15pm Adrian and jade came in Jade's car, then Amelia right after at 1:20pm. By the time 2:00 rolled around oriana, Nathan and lastly sierras little brother who was dropped off by her father. Sierra of course was nervous upon seeing her dad's orange red sports car drive up the dirt road, but smiled determined to brave it out and stand up for herself and not allow anything her father said to get her down on herself.

"Oh, that's my dad! I'll be right back Oray!"

Sierra said to Oriana as she quickly walked to where her fathers car, that was parked and still running as her brother stepped out from the front passenger door smiling and holding a large paper gift bag.

'Seems like he actually went through some trouble to make your gift look nice this year kid'

iris said curiosity in her tone as Sierra walked up to her brother and smiled warmly at him.

"Drake! It's great that you could make it to me and Sam's birthday party!"

She spoke smiling widely joy and appreciation shining through. She hugged the taller brown haired 18 year old, the young man letting out a 'oof' as Sierra hugged him tightly.

"Sis your crushing me."

Drake said breathlessly struggling to breath as his eldest sister hugged him in her crushing embrace.

"Oh sorry!"

She said quickly relenting her strength allowing her brother breathing room as he returned her hug with a bear hug of his own. After the hug was finished she quickly rushed over to her dads side of the car where he rolled down the window and smiled at her, the shades he always seemed to wear when driving covered his eyes.

"Hey there sweetheart, happy birthday."

He said smiling as Sierra leant down to hug him through the opened car window, Her arms hardly circling around his larger figure.

"Hey dad!, thanks for dropping drake off. Sorry that we weren't able to pick him up from your guys place, we"

Sierra stumbled slightly with her words as she spoke full of nervous energy.

"We kinda had our hands full with getting the campsite all set up"

Sierra chuckled awkwardly praying to her messiahs that her father wasn't going to hold it against her or something.

'If anything that would be something to expect from him.'

Sierra thought wordlessly.

"If you want I can give you some money for gas, in thanks for dropping drake off?"

Sierra offered her hands quickly going to her pants right pocket where she knew she had a good 15 dollars in her pocket. Her dad smiled.

"that's nice of you, thank you for offering sweetheart."

He said an unheard underlying tone of sarcasm in his tone that only sierra seemed to hear. Sierra held back a frown as she handed him the 15 dollars before speaking.

"I only have fifthteen dollars in cash on me at the moment if that's alright dad?"

She said nerves alighting as she could hear her self doubt starting to ring through her head.

'He probably thinks that your being selfish as always'

one dark creeping tendril of doubt said wrapping itself around her mind.

'No surprise you always have been a failure, couldn't even bother picking up your own little brother just to have him spend the week with you?, how selfish of you, always keeping your money and just spending it on yourself as always'

another creeped in, words hissed out venomously. Sierra held back tears at the dark thoughts that went on in her head.

"It's alright sweetheart, just make sure to not fight with your brother while I'm not here, I'll pick him up Thursday. What time would be good to come by?"

Her dad asked.

"I think around this time would be as good as any dad."

She said smiling at her father.

"Alright, oh and before I forget, here."

Her dad turned around and grabbed something from the back seat of his car before handing her a medium silver suitcase. It was a simple thick box the length of a large planner. It wouldn't have seemed like much if it wasn't for the handle and clasps on one of the sides of the box.

"Oh my god!, an art kit!"

Sierra smiled widely as she took the small carry case that would be more than likely filled to the brim with new art supplies, like new paint brushes, paints and other art tools. Sierra smiled warmly at her father as she held the gift. Her dad always managed to get her something for her birthday or Christmas, most of the times were either video games, gift cards, or an art kit. Most of the time it would just be straight up cash. She hugged her father again through the window, but this time a little bit harder in her excitement. Already ideas for future paintings and pictures that she could make with the art supplies she had been given began filling her mind. Landscapes of townhouses and flowing valleys, portraits of a cloud filled sky. Sierra couldn't wait to get her hands working on the pictures.

"Your welcome sweetheart, your bother has the rest of your gift of course so just call me after you open it up to let me know what you think of it."

He said smiling softly at her before he lowered his voice and wrapped his arms around her, her head pressed up against her fathers soft chest.

"I just wanna let you know Sierra, I'm proud of you."

He released his hold of Sierra before smiling at her as she stood up straight eyes brimming with tears of joy at the comment.

"Thanks dad."

She said quietly as she smiled at her dad, as her brother quickly blocked her sight of their dad as he leaned down to hug their father goodbye. 

Sierra waved her dads car away as he drove off his car disappearing around a turn, before she slung an arm around her younger brothers neck and giving him a small noogie.

"Ah!, Goddammit!"

He shouted as she laughed at his reaction.

"Relax it wasn't even that hard of a noogie."

She said smirking at her brother, as he grimaced at her, faint whiskers of facial hair on his face starting to form a small mustache on the top lip of his mouth.

"Is that a mustache?"

Sierra asked raising an eyebrow at her brother. His eyes widening at the remark, his right hand quickly going up to his face.

"No, I just forgot to shave this morning"

drake said as he looked away suddenly self conscious of his appearance.

"Hey, it's alright I can ask Tim or Roderick if they have a spare razor you could use until we go shopping tomorrow morning for groceries."

Sierra reassured her brother sending him a calm smile. Drake nodded,

"Yeah thanks sis. I appreciate it."

He said smiling crookedly.

"Alright then, well what are we waiting for? Let's get this party started!"

Sierra shouted as she turned around toward everyone else who was mingling and talking to one another, as well as figuring out which tent they wanted. 

The party didn't really start fully until 2:40 due to Sierra having to get the speakers and other things ready for the actual party. The table closet to the RV was covered in bags full of gifts for both Sierra and Samantha. Wrapped birthday presents and plastic bags barely concealing the gifts they held were also laid on top of the table. The other table had snacks and food that Roderick and Samantha had made earlier that day laid out on it. Paper plates and plastic utensils were set up beside all of the food, along with two large mostly empty plastic bags. One that was filled barely with trash and the other filled with a sparse amount plastic water bottles and soda cans. The cake that Samantha and Sierra had made for the party was still currently chilling in the RV fridge till they were ready for the cake. Sierra sat with Morgan and Samantha at the snacks table as the music from Sierra laptop played in the background, just loud enough for the music to fill the clearing. Sierra smiled widely as she watched the scene in front of her, her brother was talking up a storm to Tim about WoW and other games he was interested in as well as well as the recent anime he had been watching. Amelia was talking and laughing to Kasliy and oriana about how her college life was going currently. Nathen was talking to Roderick about how his life was doing, and Adrian, jade And Brenna we're currently talking about life as well.

"This is the best!"

Sierra said smiling widely as she leaned against Samantha's left shoulder and Morgan sat next to her on her left. The two agreed, smiling at the sight of the scene.

"Your right about that Sierra, I mean who would've know that a few years after we turned 18 this would be our future?"

Morgan said amazed at the idea and a large smile on his face. Sam nodded in agreement to Morgan's response,

"knowing me I think Sierra helped out the most for the party."

She said smiling and kissing Sierra on the top of her forehead. Sierra blushed and stammered at the compliment, even after all the many compliments that Sam and her friends have given her over the years she still didn't know how to accept them without stammering.

"Thanks, but I mean I couldn't have done it without you, Tim and Roderick"

Sierra said looking away a small smile on her face. Sam chuckled lightly, the movement making Sierra even more flustered. The whole thing felt intimate and gentle, she smiled wider at how truly lucky she felt to have found someone like Samantha. Someone she could seemingly never have a problem with, she and Sam never seemed to ever have had an argument once in there relationship. Though Sam always said that they had one or two before, but those Sierra could only think of were more like discussions of what to do in the future and choices that they had in the present. She'd never complain about it though, her relationship with Samantha and the other two tenants of their home was something she cared for deeply and with a burning passion.

If anything had ever happened to it she didn't know what she'd do.

'Probably cry myself into a depression.'

She thought to herself bitterly. She stood up as the urge to go to the restroom made itself known suddenly.

"Hold on guys,brb nature calls."

She said as she stood up grabbing her small blue purse that she knew had the essentials for the restroom in it, along with her phone and a notebook. Morgan chuckled and waved her off, while Sam smiled and nodded.

"I think your brother went into the RV's restroom, so I think you'll have to walk to the campsites restroom building they have down the road."

She said pointing down the road where the small worn white concrete building that housed the restroom and showers for the section of the campgrounds they were currently in. It was a simple and shabby building that stuck out like a sore thumb, against the open field around it and the large lush patches of trees that surrounded the area of the campsite. Sierra wasn't opposed to going in the building, though she wished that the building was a little bit more well taken cared of. She nodded and waved off to Morgan and Sam as she started to speed walk to the small building. 

Sierra had to hold back a sigh as she took in the very worn appearance of the bathroom and shower house. The tall concrete wall that circled the small building leaving the two entrance's open to enter without having to climb over the large wall. There were two large industrial garbage containers on either side of the building the moldy green paint on the right container seeming to be need of a new coat as the paint was chipped away in large giant chunks revealing the rusty red and brown metal underneath the paint. A sight Sierra was used to from all of her past visits to the old apartment her brother and dad had used to live at. She struggled to ignore the overwhelming smell of the rotting trash of the left trash can that had been probably unknowingly left open. She gagged slightly at the horrifying reek that was thick in the summer air.

'Oh sweet messiahs does that smell.'

She thought as she rushed quickly to the restroom door that was labeled with a worn sign that simply said women. She pushed through and made her way inside the bathroom and rushed to the nearest stall in the mostly clean restroom. Luckily for her most of the stalls were all fairly clean, she quickly got her business done and as she was finishing up in the restroom stall, the loud sudden sound of the restroom door slamming open and banging hard against the concrete wall behind it echoed loudly throughout the restroom. The sounds of feet running across the smooth tiled floor, along with the sounds of someone's rasping breathing, almost as if whoever ran in was on the verge of crying. Sierra pressed herself up against the wall of her stall farthest away from her stalls door. An awkward silence filling her as the restrooms new occupant began to sob loudly. The woman's voice was hoarse and rough almost like she had been crying earlier as well. Sierra was shocked with how hard the woman was crying and felt an immense guilt at her presence in the restroom. She swallowed her guilt and decided to go through with what she thought was the least awkward way of making her presence known.

She flushed her toilet praying to herself that the loud sound wouldn't be nearly as loud as they were. Sadly her prayers were not answered as the loud sound of her toilet echoed and was louder than the unknown woman's crying. She cringed hard at the volume of the sound, before she awkwardly called out when the toilet went silent.

"Sorry!, wasn't trying to be loud!"

She called out nerves alight with fear for the woman's reaction. Their was silence for what seemed like hours before the woman spoke up with a sniff.

"It's alright, I'm sorry if I scared you ma'am."

The woman's voice was still hoarse from how hard she had been crying earlier. Sierra stuttered struggling to continue with the conversation.

"Hey it's alright I get upset all the time, trust me I know how it feels when you need to let out a good cry dude."

Sierra said awkwardly and trying to lighten the mood of the situation. Her comment seemed to get the response she was hoping for, as the woman stayed quiet as she spoke listening before she finally laughed wetly at her words.

"Heh heh, yeah I just haven't been having the best day today."

The woman spoke her voice turning to something that sounded like she was smiling now and cheered up slightly. Sierra laughed softly as she came closer to her bathrooms stall door and started to unlock the door. A spark of happiness in her at the comment, and pride that she made a sad person a little bit happier.

"Yeah I get what you mean."

Sierra said as she started to open her stalls door, making sure to only start creaking the door slightly at first.

"I mean your looking at the number one biggest master of bad days here."

She finished as she pulled a funny pose as she finally fully opened her bathroom stalls door. Her face pulled into a funny face that she had perfected over the years, her eyes wide open and tongue sticking out slightly between her puffed up cheeks that she had filled with air. It was often a look she gave kids at her work when they were crying or upset and they caught her eye. Most of the time the face alone was enough to make the child break out into laughter. The pose she used was an old one, A straight up superhero pose that she'd seen for pictures of Superman and other caped crusaders all her life the more recent being all might from the my hero Academia anime. The woman stared startled at first from Sierra's pose and then her face. Her red rimmed bright blue eyes and her lightly tanned face contorting to shock and then very quickly into laughter. The woman laughed loudly as Sierra looked at her with her strange blowfish like face she had put on then in a high pitched voice said seriously.

"I'm here to bring the bad days down for people everywhere."

Sierra spoke her voice high pitched and squeaky sounding as she threw her voice around. A smile on her face as the woman laughed even louder at her voice.

"Oh my gods!, that is hysterical!"

The blue eyed woman said after a moment, catching her breath a tanned hand pressed up against her chest. Breathless giggles still spilling from her lips as she tried to control her laughter.

"Yeah I know, I'm pretty good at the good Ol' slapstick. It's a classic."

Sierra said smiling widely joining in with the woman's laughter. 

After a few minutes the woman finally stopped laughing her eyes still a bit wet with tears, but instead with tears of laughter.

"Thank you, I didn't realize how much I needed a good laugh today."

The young woman said smiling softly at Sierra who simply waved her off.

"Aww come on no need to thank me!, honesty I love brightening up people's days! I'm kinda good at it."

Sierra said smiling widely at the young woman, eyes crinkling shut in joy at making the other laugh and smile. The woman's smile faded slightly at the comment, a look of shame shining in her eyes.

"I'm sorry that I intruded into the restroom like I did earlier. I was just well.."

the woman paused seeming to struggle with the words she wanted to say.

"I've been having a rough day is all."

She finished. Sierra furrowed her eyes in concern at the woman's words.

"Hey."

She said as she placed her right hand on the woman's right shoulder, dark medium length wavy hair lightly brushing against the back of her fingers as she gripped the woman's shoulder with a gentle feather light touch.

"It's alright, really"

She said smiling somberly at the woman, blue green hazel eyes full of sympathy for the woman standing before her.

"No one can be happy all of the time, trust me on that."

Sierra smiled softly as she spoke, eyes seeming to stare deeply into the woman's near inhumanly bright blue eyes.

"Everyone has there limit to how much negativity they can take before breaking down, and there is nothing wrong with that miss....uh?"

Sierra paused in her small speech as she realized that she had no idea what the young woman's name was.

"Sorry, I just realized that I don't know your name ma'am."

Sierra said awkwardly as she quickly pulled her hand away from the others shoulder. The woman watching her with wide eyes that seemed to be in surprise at sierra's speech. She blinked rapidly as Sierra asked her question.

"Oh!, s-sorry, my names var-Marian!"

The woman now Marian yelled as if she had almost made a mistake with her words. Her face quickly going nervous and embarrassed to an abashed look of near Flirtatious politeness.

"My name is Marian. Sorry about yelling there."

Marien said her name more confidently before apologizing quickly, leaving Sierra blinking at the other owlishly still in shock at the other ones sudden shout.

"Hey it's alright Marian, we all sometimes mess up our own names."

Sierra said chuckling nervously as she looked back at Marian a reassuring smile on her face.

Marien smiled back, face nervous again. She looked away and asked quietly a slight blush dusting her cheeks

"W-what's your name?"

Sierra made sure to not raise an eyebrow when she thought that Marian's blush looked less pink and more of a light purple, though she blinked a couple times and the others blush seemed to be the normal light pink that all blushes were.

'Odd'

she thought to herself before shrugging it off as a trick on her eyes.

"Oh, my names Sierra!, Sierra Mitchell."

Sierra answered smiling widely at the Marian who watched Sierra from the Corner of her eyes that seemed to be darker than the bright blue they had been before.

"Sierra huh?"

Marien whispered quietly more to herself than to anyone else. Sierra heard the whisper but kept her smile on her face regardless, even going so far as to bow before Marian her hands turning and twisting in the air as she made the motion, her left arm splaying out behind her and her right going across her chest as she crossed her ankles and bowed comically her smile wide and calm as before. Marien watched wide eyed before chuckling at Sierra's antics. laughing even harder as Sierra spoke her next words in a deeper baritone voice, a fairly good mimic of a stereotypical gentleman.

"Sierra m Mitchell at your pleasure madame Marian."

The following giggle-snort from Marian caused Sierra to snort in a weak attempt of keeping her laughter in and struggling to stay in 'character' before the two both broke down laughing loud and hard. Marian laughing the hardest out of the two, and eventually falling onto the fairly clean tiled floor of the restroom and curling into a ball while still shaking with laughter. 

Sierra chuckled breathless as she leaned against the bathroom sink, tremors of laughter still shaking her frame as she struggled to not break into laughter again.

'Messiahs that tickled my chuckle box.'

She thought as she quickly washed her hands in the sinks before patting them dry on her pants and glanced at Marian who was now sitting upright on the floor back leaning against the pillar of concrete that made up the wall where the sink was. She looked back up at Sierra before smiling warmly at her. Sierra felt her heart skip a beat, a feeling she always felt whenever she was around Samantha.

'Fuck fuck not again'

Sierra thought shame going through her.

'One of the only problem's about being bi and poly at the same time. Is that anyone can be your next crush.'

She thought sadly as she watched Marian sigh and lean her head onto the concrete wall behind her.

"Y'know you remind me a lot of someone I used to know"

Marian said smiling softly toward Sierra. Another hard thump in her chest, warmth curling in her stomach and chest as she looked at Marian's smile.

'Come on Mitchell you don't even know this girl that well yet, get a hold of yourself!'

Sierra told herself harshly iris and Rosanna's presence revealing itself and quickly calming her. She always did appreciate it when the two demons comforted her.

"R-really?, who was she?"

Sierra asked flustered for a moment at the current emotions she was feeling toward the other.

"She was a very close 'friend' of mine."

Marian said her eyes getting distant as she spoke, a faint smile on her lips. Sierra worried at her top lip with her teeth as Marian went on, worry beginning to coil in her chest for the other.

"She was very close to me, but well one day a horrible accident happened and she was taken away from me."

Marian said eyes growing dark and misty.

'Should she be telling me all of this?'

Sierra thought as she grew nervous at the idea that she could be dealing with someone that could mean her harm.

"Oh!"

Marian quickly came to and blushed darkly as she realized what she had been talking about.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have been talking about that to you. I mean you hardly even know me."

Marian went on eyes going up to the others face, a look of embarrassment and of a barely concealed pain.

"You just look so much like her, and she used to do silly things to make me laugh. She always seemed to know how to cheer me up."

Her voice grew tight with emotion as she spoke. 

Sierra's eyes creased in concern as she concluded to herself that this woman before her was just recovering from a lost loved one.

'And from what it sounds like they were more than just friends.'

Iris said curiously.

"Hey, it's alright Marian sometimes you just need someone to talk to about these kinds of things."

Sierra said smiling understandingly.

"Anyway, sorry if this sounds rude or anything, but can you tell me why you came running in here crying?"

She asked as politely as she could, as she looked down at the others form. Marian stuttered seeming to flinch at the question before she spoke voice filled with regret.

"I was left at my campsite by my family."

She looked away a look filled with pain as she spoke. Guilt gnawed at Sierra as she realized how awful of a day the other had been through.

"What really?!, why in the world would your own family leave you here alone?"

Sierra shouted in surprise anger suddenly filling her face as she grew angry at the news.

'Who would in there right mind leave a family member at a rental campsite?!'

She thought to herself in shock at the news. Marian flushed at Sierra's reaction, shocked that this stranger was showing true concern for her.

"It was mostly my fault I suppose, I had a large fight with my family and they had proceeded to throw all of my things that I had brought for the trip out of our car And well, they drove off leaving me here."

The tanned woman said tears of guilt and regret welling up in them,

"It's been at least two days now since they left me here...I wish I didn't stand up for myself against my mother like I did."

Marian said her voice going tight as an oncoming torrent of regret and guilt hit her for what might have been a common event the past two days for her. Sierra felt anger melting away into concern for the other woman's wellbeing.

"Hey don't say that!, I may not know a lot about you Marian but I do know that you seem like a really nice person who's just a bit down on their luck."

Sierra said kneeling beside Marian, a look of sympathy on her face her blue green hazel eyes shining with sincerity. Marian flushed at the pure look of unadulterated concern and care that the dirty blonde was giving her, her heart pounded quickly as Sierra gave her a side hug and a reassuring smile. 

"Besides what was the argument about anyway?, it couldn't have been that bad?"

Sierra asked her face still full of concern for the other. Marian sobbed in what was frustration as she spoke,

"my mom was getting mad at me for wanting to move out of their house and go out into the world on my own. I just thought that they would be happy but instead they both went off on me! Calling me these awful things, saying that I was selfish for wanting to leave them! And that I was abandoning them!"

As Marian went on her voice raising to a shout causing Sierra to flinch back a bit from the loud angry words. Her mind struggling to not break down in fright at the sheer anger in the others words.

"So I told them that I didn't care if I left them, and that I didn't like how they were treating me back home. And well we went back and forth for awhile until I just told them that I hated them."

Marian said her voice going quiet as she finished. Sierra listened intently to her frowning in understanding, she could see how the event had probably went. Marien yelling at her parents and them going back and forth the tension and anger building in them until Marian broke down screaming at them that she hated them. Sierra swallowed dryly as she had a vague idea of what may have happened after.

"Then after they threw out your things and left right?"

She asked woodenly, fear and shock on her face at the idea of that happening to anyone. Marian nodded tears spilling down her cheeks, her bright blue eyes sad and filled with regret.

"But it was my fault!, I shouldn't have pushed them that far or told them that I wanted to move out! I was in the wrong like I always am."

She said more tears spilling down her cheeks regretfully. Sierra was shocked at the others words, a hot spark of anger and rage filling her briefly as she realized how truly bad Marian's parents had been to her.

"Why would they get mad at you for wanting to move out?!, if anything they should have been happy for you! You wanted to grow and move forward as a person and trust me my parents were happy for me when I got a place of my own. Hell they were even supportive of me moving, because they wanted to see me grow as a person! Your parents were holding you back! They were the selfish ones not you!"

Sierra said hotly anger in her voice as she spoke to Marien, she pointed to her as she spoke.

"You are the one to determine your life not them."

She said with finality her eyes filled with a look of hard determination.

"If you're own family can't see that, then maybe it's good that we met! Me and my roommates can help you get your own place while you get back onto your feet with us."

She offered as she stood up looking down at Marien a comforting smile on her face. Marian smiled at Sierra wiping her tears from her face and nodded at her.

"That would be nice if you Sierra, i'll help around the house as much as possible if you want?"

She asked as she started to stand up but her left leg had fallen asleep during the time she sat down onto the hard tile floor. The feeling of pins and needles covered her leg as she stumbled almost falling face first before Sierra caught her. Grabbing her right hand and her left circling around her waist as she helped her stand up onto her feet. Sierra blinked rapidly as she looked at Marien a look of confusion on her face before her usual reassuring smile covered her face. Marian returned the smile as the two headed out of the bathroom door.

"Oh! Yeah and you can hang out with us for me and my hunnybuns b-day party this week if you want?"

Sierra asked as they two walked toward the campsite, Marien smiled and nodded a pang of guilt gripping her as she watched Sierra's joyful expression carefully knowing all to well that in three days that she would be the reason the other would cry for her friends.


	4. Chapter 3: serious talks and wandering thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Samantha and the other party guests learn about Marian's true intentions, Sierra notice's the tension in the air and try's to party as best she can while struggling to remain positive about her and Samantha's birthday. meanwhile Iris and Rosanna think about there thought's on the newcomer that has already begun to light a flame inside the human they care most for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i have thirteen chapters up on wattpad already and i posted the first three last night at 2-3 in the morning before i went to bed, so i'll try to post hopefully four more chapters on here today.

Marian hadn't known what she was expecting when she met her friends along with the three roommates of her's and her brother as well. Whatever she had nonexistently expected it certainly wasn't this. The dirty blonde sitting across from her that had her medium length hair put into a braid that was placed onto her left shoulder, her face scrunched in confusion as her green hazel eyes that were full of suspicion eyed her. Marian was sitting stiffly on the concrete bench as Samantha eyed her suspiciously while the sounds of laughter and music played in the air around them. Standing beside Samantha we're the two young men known as Tim and Roderick which eyed her with as much suspicion as Sam was. It felt like hours before Samantha spoke quietly, her eyes hard and filled with a protectiveness that radiated from her.

"Who are you?"

A simple question from the person who had been eyeing her like she had crashed their party and yelled offensive slurs at them. Which of course she didn't, Marian knew how much was on the line with this risky last minute mission she was doing.

'Gods what would my brother think if he knew where I went?'

She thought to herself as she answered Samantha's question.

"My name is Marian, I'm sure Sierra has already told you about my situation if I'm correct."

She said giving the three as warm a smile as she could muster. A sharp laugh spilled from Samantha's lips after she spoke,

"oh we know plenty about the story you told Sierra, but I wasn't asking for your fake name demon."

The dirty blonde hissed under her breath her eyes seeming to glow a dim green in the darkening dusk of the campsite. Marian swallowed hard at the others words, that would definitely throw a wrench in her plans. She hadn't even been at the campsite for an hour yet and already she had been found out.

'Shit, gods give me the strength to pull through this'

she prayed to herself as the two men standing beside Samantha stiffened at her words.

"Demon? You sure your not over-exaggerating a bit sam?"

The shorter of the two men Roderick Marian remembered Sierra telling her vaguely, said to the blonde. His only response he got was a short nod the glare on sam's face darkening greatly.

"Now now, I understand what the stereotype of my kind is and what my kinds appearance would normally mean, especially if I'm visible to all of you. But please before you jump to any conclusions let me at least explain my reason for being here."

Marian said quickly her voice filled with fear and nervous energy. Samantha eyed her for a second after she spoke before she relaxed and nodded toward the other.

"Alright, but no more lying from you 'Marian'"

She said spitting out her fake name like it was a bitter piece of food. Marian smiled appreciatively at the three as she began to explain her real situation, not a single lie interwoven into her facts.

Sierra watched her roommates and Marian nervously as she sat at the concrete table on the opposite side of the campsite. Morgan and Brenna grabbed her attention as they handed her another colorful gift bag that was filled with a birthday gift from one of the other patrons who seemed a bit nervous about the exchange that was going on at the other table. The nervous energy that seemed to hang thickly around the entire campsite was heavy and oppressive making the entire once joy-filled occasion now melancholic.

'It's that damn girls fault!'

Hissed iris, anger filled voice filling the empty space in Sierra's mind.

'How so? I didn't get anything from her before other than she looked a little odd occasionally and that vision thing?'

She said to the agitated demon, her mind going back to when she had caught Marian from falling in the bathroom. The moment her bare palm had touched the others her mind had went fuzzy and strange. Then what could have been an old forgotten memory of some kind had flashed through her mind.

She was standing in what seemed to be an alleyway of some strange city, the architecture reminding her of nothing she had ever seen in pictures or in person on earth. Before her had been two small skinny children, both of them boys. They were huddled close to one another as if to protect themselves from any form of aggression. The children's strange look and appearance had stuck with her most of all along with the emotion's that she felt in the memory. Feelings of sympathy for the two children, anger toward the people who had harmed them, and the feeling of an idea that made her filled with hope for the future. A hope that she or whoever's memories this was, hadn't felt for a long time.

"I'll take these two please."

A woman's voice had come from her as she spoke to whoever was standing beside her. The woman's voice was filled with a benevolent mischief that Sierra herself had felt herself many times before in her life.

"Are you sure ma'am I'm sure a lady of your caliber would rather prefer to buy a slave that is more worthy to work for you instead of two daemon twins."

A man's voice spoke up beside her, a feeling of disgust at the words the man spoke went through her.

"After all I've heard that these two were born on an eclipse after all, nothing good can come from these two if you buy them ma'am."

The man continued his voice urging her to change her mind.

"Did I ask for your opinion slavetrader?, if I wanted your opinion on who I should buy than I would have asked for it!"

The woman's voice said again, the sound of annoyance ringing clear in it.

"I want these two and only these two, you don't have to prepare them or anything, I'll take them as they are."

The woman said as she knelt before the two children, the faint sounds of the man running off to get the paperwork for the two of them.

"Don't worry you two, I won't let that smelly old man hurt you anymore. Your free to be yourselves now, I'll teach you all you need and we'll all make a name for ourselves I promise."

The woman said pale white hands and arms reaching forward and gently touching the two children's shoulders. The boy with the longest hair out of the two spoke first his voice shaking with fear and confusion, his gray lilac hands gripping around her wrist as his brightly purple glowing eyes shone with unshed tears, as he looked up into her eyes.

"Who are you?"

The boy asked as his smaller brother curled closer to him his arms hugging around his waist tightly, and his own gray blue glowing eyes watched her tearfully.

"You May call me seren~~~~"

The memory faded away quickly after that the woman's voice fading into the deep abyss that was Sierra's mind as she came to, the first thing she saw was Marian's smiling face as she helped her stand up. 

After the event she couldn't look at Marian the same way she did before, for some reason the other seemed so familiar, not the way she looked or they way she sounded but the way she acted and the little things she did that Sierra hadn't noticed before. Things that she shouldn't have noticed and knew what they meant unless they had known each other for years, but that wasn't possible at all Sierra had a fairly good recollection when it came to faces and people connected to them. She would have recognized Marian just by her face alone but she knew for a fact that she had never met the other before in her life. But the feeling of familiarity would not leave her, she hated how lost she was feeling after that odd memory she experienced. She was snapped out of her thoughts again as Morgan nudged her side. She shrieked in surprise at the sudden touch, her mind panicking briefly into a swarm of paranoia and fight or flight before her eyes caught the sight of Morgan's smirking face. At the sight of a familiar face did her short lived fight or flight turn off and her body relaxed back into the sitting position it had been in prior.

"You dick what was that for?!"

She shouted at the other causing him to laugh hard at her reaction, the others surrounding the table joining in the laughter as Sierra blushed darkly in the realization of what had happened. She had spaced out and temporarily forgotten where she was again. She always seemed to do that, losing herself in her thoughts so easily, of course when that happened somehow without fail she could be surprised and put into a small panic her mind filling with panic and fear, and of course when that would happen her body would flail, arms and legs waving and kicking rapidly in the vague direction she thought the 'threat' would be. All it ever seemed to accomplish however was making her look like a dork and a coward. 

"It's not that funny you assholes!"

She yelled trying her damndest to sound as angry as possible, but the laughter around her was contagious and she let a laugh or two slip into her angry shout. Her words and feeling of anger fading away rapidly and turning into laughter and joy as she laughed with the other partygoers around her.

"Your a dick fam"

she said breathlessly to morgan as he tried to catch his breath from the second wind of laughter that Sierra had ignited in him and the others which had led her to laugh hard again it almost becoming a vicious cycle of them all laughing at each others laughter. Morgan could only chuckle breathlessly at her as he wiped at his eyes where tears of laughter had welled up in them.

"Well I am a guy, Besides wasn't my fault you got lost in your head when you're opening gifts."

He said looking at her his arms crossing at her as everyone around them caught there breath. She chuckled nervously scratching at the back of her head, nails picking and bumping against an old scab on her head from past scratching, a nervous habit she had a tendency of doing whenever she was worried, concerned or just anxious in general. The other frowned and smacked at her arm lightly as he spoke,

"stop that, come on you got gifts to open up."

He said as he leaned down and picked up the bright colorful gift bag that Sierra had dropped from her lap when she had been surprised. The bag design Sierra noticed was bright and colorful, small 3-d paper balloons jutted out on the bags side as she looked it over, her eyes scanning for the gift tag of the bags handle. Her hands grabbing at it once she found it, opening the small card tag with both hands and reading aloud who the gift was from.

"From Nathan, aww thanks you big ol' sap!"

She said looking to the tall white man who sat at the opposite side of the table beside Kaisly and drake. His blonde hair still as short as it ever was and his shockingly bright blue eyes closing shut as he gave her a small smile.

"Not a problem Sierra."

He said his low monotonous voice rumbling comfortably. Sierra smiled back at him before she pushed bright pink and yellow tissue paper out of the way as she grabbed her gift from the tissue papers grasp.

"Oh my messiahs!, Nathan! This is amazing! Thank you!"

She shrieked in joy as she smiled widely toward him, as she held the small thin white game card holder close to her chest. He nodded at her as she looked back down at the game she held in her hands. It's bright colorful front cover picture gave it away immediately to her, the latest Pokémon mystery dungeon game in the series was in her possession.

"Fuck yeah!, momma needed a new game for her 3ds!"

She shouted cheerfully joy clear in her voice. She then suddenly pointed at drake and yelled,

"Looks who got a new Pokémon's mystery dungeon now you Turd!, this bitch got one now! Suck it!"

Drake scowled at his sisters words towards him, his mouth opening to retort before Sierra spoke again.

"You can't say shit, cause you always did the same thing to me whenever you got a new mystery dungeon bro! All I can say it's not nice is it?"

She said as she stood up putting her right foot onto the concrete bench she had been sitting on and her left foot planted firmly on the concrete slab underneath that made up a small piece of floor under the table and bench. Drake promptly shut his mouth at her retort, she was right of course but that didn't mean he had to like that she was right about it. 

"So that's all of it?"

Samantha asked looking at Marian, an eyebrow raised, her eyes wide with surprise. Tim And Roderick stood beside her Roderick a look of concern on his face as he spoke to Marian.

"So were just supposed to let you just take her in four days? That's it? Are you shitting me?"

His voice grew angry toward the demon disguised human.

"I think we could protect her just fine without your help!, why do we have to listen to what you have to say?! You could be lying to us after al-!"

He was cut off as Sam and Tim spoke up.

"She's not lying"

they said at the same time. Roderick blinked in surprise before he spoke again carefully.

"how can you both tell?"

His eyes narrowing at Marian a look of fearful anger shining in his eyes.

"She's not, Roderick trust me."

Sam said again, standing up and facing him, her eyes full of a dark sadness that he had seen many times before back when Samantha had first moved into the old apartment that the four of them used to share before they had updated it for a dulplex. Back when her insomnia and depression had hit her hard and heavy. It was a look that was often on her face when she was distraught by something she heard. He looked back at Marian or whatever her real name was! And sighed. If what Marian had said wasn't true Samantha wouldn't be having this kind of reaction after hearing it. He pulled Samantha into a hug holding her close as he glanced back to where Sierra was sitting and opening up all of her birthday gifts, she was practically glowing with pure joy just by being around the ones she cared for. He watched as she laughed and blushed her long dark honey blonde hair pulled into the usual ponytail she had it always in, because she always said how much she hated how her hair made her get hot due to the sheer length of it all and how she disliked it getting into her mouth when she was talking or eating. The single streak of bleached blonde hair that she always had now from when she had first gotten a strip of her hair dyed a deep royal purple back during high school because she loved the color so much but loved her hair just as much and didn't want to be without either,so she just went with a small strip. How after the first two times the color went away that she just kept the blonde streak because she liked how nice it looked. He felt the sharp stab of guilt as he thought of all of the long nights back when Sierra was still living with her parents and she was tired of being nagged at by her stepdad as he tried to get her to help herself in the wrong way, and how the two of them would talk late into the night about how she felt and how she was doing and how he was feeling and how intently she always seemed to listen to everything he would say.

"I know I have no right to say anything but if she doesn't go with me back to my world, my leader will not give any mercy when he comes for her. Please understand if there was another way to prevent him from taking her I would tell you it, but I didn't have enough time to come up with any other plan that had even the slightest chance of succeeding. If it's any consolation I am well and truly sorry for the information I have burdened you three with."

Marian said quietly her false blue eyes glowing brightly in the dim light as the background sounds of laughter and music played on into the night.

Sierra could feel that something was wrong every time the conversation around her lulled or when there was a quiet pause on her laptop before the next song started playing. And now here she was sitting in the grass in the dark of the night alone far away from the lights they had set up around the camp and the music that was now feeling overwhelming to her despite it not even being that loud. She just needed sometime away from everyone for a small bit so she could think through what was her confusing tangled feelings and worries that she was feeling tonight that had started ever since she brought Marian to their campsite. As she thought she realized that not once when she had been opening up her gifts did Sam, Roderick or even Tim come up and talk to her. She glanced down at one of her new gifts she had gotten today during the gift opening, an indigo color bead necklace that was from Samantha that of which she hadn't even been able to say thank you to the other at all yet. If anything once she had tried to talk to her honeybun after the gifts were all done Samantha looked at her with a look of barely concealed sadness. A sadness that she knew by heart from all of the intimate nights with Sam, the two alone in a dimly lit room and talking about any and everything that worried or made them anxious. After knowing Sam as long as she did Sierra knew Samantha fairly well as one could get with the one they love with a burning passion. It had been the same with the other two lovers of hers, Roderick had straight up avoided her when he saw her walking up to him her eyes creased in confused worry of what was going on. While Tim had just given her a tight hug and quietly told her

'that they wanted to tell her something important later'

with a look of such worry that had simply shocked her to see it on his face. All of these events had led her to the spot in the soft grass in the dark she had found herself at now.

'Did I do something wrong?'

She asked herself, unsurprisingly enough iris and Rosanna answered her question for her.

'You didn't do anything wrong sweetheart'

Rosanna said her voice deep and gentle as it always was whenever she was trying to calm Sierra down.

'You?, what could you have done kid? You didn't do a damn thing wrong!'

Iris said reassuringly and with a gentleness that was so unlike her that it always surprised her when she heard iris speak like that.

'Careful iris I think rosie is rubbing off on you.'

She said to them a somber chuckle slipping from her lips as she laid down onto the ground and looked up at the starry night sky. The sheer size and clearness of the night sky giving her a feeling of how truly small she was compared to the universe and how much of a miracle that she of all people was here living in this time and life instead of someone else. 

When she had said things like that to her family they always told her that she needed to stop being sad and making everything so dark and depressing. Even though the simple thought that she! Of all people were here and alive even through everything she had went through regardless of if it was nothing compared to what millions of others had dealt with she could be truly happy with herself knowing that she was here and alive and breathing in and out fresh crisp night air that was filled with life giving oxygen that was in turn given and used by the nature around her.

"I love this."

She said quietly as she spread her arms and legs wide open practically star-fishing herself across the grass that was smooth and soft against her fingers and bare arms. Her hair stuck in the usual ponytail painfully pressing up against her head like a hard rock until she decided to quickly pull her hair from her ponytail and allow her long hair to flow free from the old and worn white Scrunchie she had gotten at least three years ago. She sighed as she laid back down onto the grass her long hair splaying out behind her like a strange sea of honey blonde lock with a single streak of blonde that ran through the right side of her hair. She breathed in slowly while closing her eyes and focusing on the feelings that were drowning her in them. She focused on one major emotion she was feeling the most during this moment in time. She imagined herself in a dark room as she stood up against the towering beast that was covered in an uncountable amount of mouths that spoke and drooled boiling hot tar that seemed to sizzle and burn the phantasmal floor underneath it. Small twisted arms and legs that were red and cracked with disease and sickness held it barely a foot off of the ground as the hundreds of mouths spoke. Words that Sierra herself that thought and said to herself over and over in her mind whenever she was upset at herself or frustrated with something rang clear through her mind as she held fast to the creature. The fouls beast that stood before her was her interpretation of her hate and rage toward herself. Nothing more than a disease ridden blob like creature that at the heart of it was nothing but a nuisance to her mental health. She had been doing this practice of sorts since she had first moved into her old apartment with Tim. She had decided to do this because of how toxic her self-hate was, and because Sam herself had suggested it to her. It worked of course, it worked for all of her emotions at least most of the time it worked. Whenever she was feeling anxious she would try to relax and focus on something else that would calm her and take her mind off of the subject. Her imagined form was a simple one of herself. She had a simplistic look to her, similar to that of a cartoon character and less of how she really looked in real life. Her hair pulled into her usual ponytail and it looking fluffy and soft like a mop of wavy hair instead of the flat straight hair it usually was. Her eyes round and expressive, and in a bright mix of blue and green instead of the usual hazel blue green it was in real life. She was shorter than she was in reality, and she was clothed in metal armor that had a plain white long sleeved sweater underneath. She held with both of her hands a sword that gleamed brightly imaginary light glinting off of the sliver blade while the hilt was a bright shining gold that had a long strip of smooth and comfortable leather wrapped around it. 

She glared at the towering beast before her, she could do this back when she first started so she could do it now. The first time had been difficult but eventually she had gotten the hang of it. She could do this, she psyched herself up as a bouncy tune began playing in her mind. She grinned widely most of her white teeth showing as she recognized the tune as one of the songs from her playlist for the party. It was a perfect meme masterpiece made by the Youtuber pewdiepie.

"Bitch lasagna motherfucker!"

She yelled into her mind as she charged at the mental interpretation of her toxic feelings for herself.

'Bitch lasagna, bitch lasagna!'

The song went on in her mind as she swung her sword in an arch toward the creature that hissed and spoke in a good dozen of it mouths.

"You'll never make your friends proud of you"

it spoke with tar slicked mouths. She gritted at the words and anger filled her as she slammed with all her strength at the tar dripping amorphous lump of imaginative flesh. Her sword hit her mark squarely on the top of its body causing the beast to shriek loudly as dark thick viscous tar seeped from the frighteningly deep wound that her sword as made. She sang along with the song that still rang clear around her.

"bitch lasagna, bitch lasagna look at T-series they just crying for their momma"

she sang along with the song as she dove her sword deep into one of the many open mouths that were gurgling with tar filling in its throat. It mouths shrieked as she dug the sword deeply into the mouth that now gnashed wildly around the silver and gold blade. Sierra pushed down onto the blade with all of her strength driving the blade further and further into the beast.

"Bitch lasagna bitch lasagna, T-series ain't nothing but a bitch lasagna!"

She sang loudly into her mind as the song was approaching it finale. She yanked the sword out from the beast mouth before she jumped high into the air. Laughter spilling from her lips as she spun in the air and threw herself down toward the creature as the final verse of the song played around her.

"bitch lasagna bitch lasagna, T-series ain't nothing but a bitch lasagna!"

The song played on as she prepared to land the finishing blow that would slay the beast.

"Si—-si—err—-a"

a voice cut through her focus as she opened her eyes and looked up from her spot she laid on the grass. It was Marian, her eyes scrunched in confusion as she looked at Sierra. 

"What are you doing laying on the ground?"

She asked as Sierra looked up at her from the ground. She had seen the human walk over here earlier while she had tried to interact with the other humans at the party. Of course all of the humans especially those very close to Sierra all gave her glares and fearful looks. Sierra's brother had even walked right up to her and threatened her after Samantha and the other two had went about telling everyone about the situation and what was going to happen in four days. It seemed that the once cheery party atmosphere had changed drastically into a somber one. She had told Samantha that it would be at least five years till Sierra would be able to return back to earth safely. Samantha of course hadn't been the most pleased to hear this news but had promised to let Sierra know when they three of them told her of the news. So here she was standing away from the campsite that she had been led to by the very person who she was taking away to safety in four days. Marian May be a daemon but she never had been the best at hiding her emotions like other daemons she knew. Her stomach was twisted into knots as she watched Sierra lay spread eagle on the ground near the campsite. Sierra blinked up at her before her face twisted into one of guilt and regret.

"I was just laying down to do some thinking is all."

She said quietly as she sat up her long hair dragging along with her as small bits of grass and tiny twigs caught onto her hair.

"Oh, I know that feeling."

Marian said in understanding as she knelt behind the human her hands inching close to her long honey blonde hair before freezing.

"You got some grass in your hair Sierra do you mind if I get them out?"

She asked the human quietly her false eyes looking to the humans sitting form. She couldn't put her finger as to why, but Sierra looked sad in that moment. Her shoulders were tense and her voice was short and clipped as if she was holding back tears.

"Sure"

her response came forward and Marian smiled sadly at the other before her hands quickly went to work. 

Sierra sighed deeply as Marian quickly went to work, her deft hands going through her locks with feather light touches and picking out small blades of grass and tiny twigs that had been on the ground she had laid on. Her heart was beating fast and hard as Marian hummed quietly to herself as she worked. Her mind was filled with confusion and regret.

'Should i have brought Marian to the camp?'

She asked herself waiting for iris and Rosanna to answer her. The two demons having been with her all her life, along with being able to talk to her clearly since her freshman year of high school. They two always were with her during every moment of everyday since she had been able to hear them clearly. Iris was the loud and more eccentric of the two, while Rosanna was more calm and reserved. The two couldn't have been more different from each other, add the fact that the two were lovers made it even more odd for Sierra. Especially whenever she was trying to sleep and she would hear the two of them saying soft overly sweet things to one another. Of course due to the two having been in her mind for so long had that they were aware intently of what was going around her. Ironically enough to Sierra the demon know as iris and the fallen angel known as Rosanna were her guardian angels sent to her by her messiahs herself, or whatever higher being had sent them her way. She knew how they ended up stuck inside her mind, hidden away and barely able to be sensed by even the most spiritually sensitive people like Samantha. Who had out of all the people she had ever met, the most experience with and was still able to deal with the supernatural with her own supernatural kind of calm about her. Though iris and Rosanna were close to her and the two themselves cared for the human, they were both extremely possessive over her when it came to other spirts or demons that had come even close to Sierra. Iris of course being the first usually angered by the feeling she and Rosanna were fined tuned to meanwhile Sierra herself would only get an oppressive feeling of unease and sudden energy whenever events like that would happen. Of course they always went away after an hour or two thankfully to Sierra's relief. 

Iris was feeling this anger now, as she sat curled in the bright and always colorful part of their humans mind they were stuck in. Her bright lilac formless body glowed brightly, her phantasmal hands outstretching before her as she spoke to Sierra her voice echoing around her and Rosanna's calm navy blue glowing form, bright red circling around both of their wrists and ankles as they always had since the two of them had arrived in Sierra's mind all those years ago. A small newly born infant that was taking its first breath as they both dove into its mind in the hopes of accomplishing a dual possession. Of course that infant had been Sierra, and well the dumb experiment that there boss had asked them to help with had backfired majorly on them. Not that the two of them regretted it anymore, not since they got emotionally attached to their human. She was everything that they hadn't know they needed in there lives. She may have been odd for a human but that was one of her better qualities that made up who she was, along with how calmly she handled most of her problems. To a demon of irises quality when she would lay a claim on a person or place she would protect them or it with the a burning passion.

"I don't trust her."

She said her voice filled with anger and distrust, she hated how she looked through Sierra's eyes watching as Sierra fiddled with the beaded necklace in her hands and occasionally rubbed her right thumb over the old silver ring on her pointer finger they way she always did when anxious about something. The simple band of silver that once had a small clear gem in it, but had been lost to the grip of time and how much Sierra wore it. It was a ring Samantha had given her, a gift that Sierra held close to herself, and a gift that iris and Rosanna approved of greatly. But what pissed iris off was the feeling that she and her soulmate were more than familiar with, albeit it wasn't nearly as potent as the other demons that iris had to fight back whenever they came to close to Sierra. To her Marian was still a threat,

"I know, but she seems like a good person guys."

Sierra's voice rang out throughout her mind as she talked to them with her thoughts. The lilac colored form of iris glowed brightly as she let loose some of her power that she always had locked away inside her. The energy she let out would be a warning call to the other demon near her human's body. A warning that would tell the other to back off.

Marian yanked her hands away from Sierra's hair in surprise at the sudden force of negative energy that had been thrown her way. She blinked her false blue eyes in surprise and confusion, Was there another daemon around? She quickly glanced around the area around them and sighed deeply when she didn't sense where the energy had come from, but she knew what the energy had meant. It was a warning shot of sorts to her, that if she didn't step away she would be hurt severely.

"Marian? You alright?"

Sierra's voice cut through her thoughts the human's face turning toward her and giving her a look of concern.

"Uh y-yeah I'm alright, I just thought I heard something is all."

She waved off as she went back to picking out the bits of grass from the others hair. Not soon after another surge of negative energy hit her fingertips, the sting of it bringing a burning pain onto her fingertips. The sting of pain making her hiss in pain. Sierra whirled her head around her hair flying behind her as she turned quickly.

"Marian?!, ah shit did iris hurt you?"

She said quickly as she carefully took the human disguised demons hands into her hands her fingertips gently ghosting over the others fingers, that now had bright angry purple burns that raced along them. Marian looked at the human confused at her words,

"Iris? W-who's that?"

She asked confused and terrified that she had been found out by the only human remaining in the campsite that didn't know her true identity, at least she would still think that if it wasn't for the others next words.

"Oh! Iris is one of the two demons in my head, they've kinda been in their since I was born."

The human said smiling sheepishly.

"Damn it I told iris not to try anything reckless but she always acts this way when another demon comes even close to me."

She said quickly as she stood up and grabbed at Marian's wrist loosely and gently tugging her up onto her feet, before leading her toward the campsite where everyone looked up at the oncoming duo. 

Marian's mind went into a panic at the others words and actions.

'What?, she knew I was a demon! How the actual hell did she not freak out?!'

She thought as she was led into the RV and sat down onto one of the wood chairs that were all set up around what was the kitchen area of the RV.

"Wait here for a sec, I gotta get some burn medicine for those burns."

Sierra said quickly before she walked quickly into the bathroom area of the RV.

"What the fuck do you mean that you didn't mean to hurt her that bad?!"

Sierra said loudly as the sounds of rummaging were heard from where Marian still sat in a daze at the newly revealed information. She felt some kind of satisfaction as she heard Sierra berate the demon known as iris who from what she could hear, would be regretting her actions for a few hours at most.


	5. Chapter 4: let's clear some things up and have a serious talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sierra get's onto iris for hurting Marian, Marian reveals her real reason for being there. Sierra, Sam, Ricardio, and Tim talk about the reasoning for it and what will happen in the next two days.

Sierra sighed as she listened to iris explain herself exasperated with the others actions that harmed the other demon who was currently sitting on a kitchen chair with a look of pure bewilderment on her false tan face.

'Come on kid! You can't be mad at me for trying to defend us can you?'

Iris said her voice filled with exasperation as she tried to appease the frustrated human. 

"Yeah I can understand that, and like a said for the other fifty times this has happened I'll say it again. Don't start shit until they try to actually harm me!"

Sierra shouted angrily to iris not caring if she was heard or not by the other partygoers. She had been having a shitty night on the day that was supposed to be an amazing event spent with those she loved, but instead she tired to help someone and all of a sudden she was being avoided like the Black Plague. Rosanna meanwhile was trying to calm the special people in her life, she was used to the small little arguments like this it was nothing compared to the giant ones they used to have back when Sierra made her first deal with them. Those Rosanna remembered with a hate, but of course she was there to offer calming reassurance to the two of them. 

'Calm down both of you!, Sierra I understand why your upset with iris and trust me I am to.'

Iris gasped with a start and began to speak to the fallen angel before Rosanna stopped her.

'I'm not finished iris, let me finish please?'

Iris looked away her phantasmal face turning away with a pout similar to one a child would have when they knew they were in the wrong but didn't like it. 

'Anyway, but I know why she's like this and trust me on this Sierra as her soulmate I'm making sure she doesn't do anything too ridiculous like this.'

Rosanna said her form bowing before what was Sierra's mind. Sierra sighed as she could see Rosanna bowing in her mind and nodded, 

"alright but why didn't you stop her before she burned Marian's hands?"

She asked as she finally found the large jar of homemade burn medicine that Samantha had first made in case incidents like this ever happened.

Rosanna at the question grew flustered, 

'I was busy...'

the fallen angel stammered her form glowing brightly her forms face turning glowing a light pink. 

'Okay with what?'

Sierra asked in her mind confused and barely annoyed at her reaction as she picked up the jar from under the RV's restroom sink. 

'I was busy going over your imaginary fight with your self hate, I was really excited watching your fight!'

Rosanna said her voice filled with a growing excitement as she spoke. Her excitement causing both iris and Sierra to laugh at it, the once tense atmosphere that had been there before was now replaced with a warmth that was familiar between the three of them. 

"Alright fine, we'll talk about this later after everyone goes to bed okay?"

Sierra said aloud as she made her way to Marian, a soft smile on her face. 

'Agreed'

the two of them said in unison agreeing with her idea.

Marian watched as Sierra sat on the wooden floor across from her and set down the glass jar filled with an off white cream that had small bits of green inside it. 

"Sorry about that, I had to get onto iris for hurting you. You'd be surprised that this isn't the first time that this kind've thing has happened."

She said as she unscrewed the jars lid and lifting it off with a small 'pop'. 

"O-oh you Don't say?"

The demon said nervously as the other scooped a small blob of the cream onto her fingers. The demon eyeing the cream with a suspicious look in her eyes, her mind hazy as the pain in her fingers intensified causing her to make another hiss of pain. The odd burning itching feeling in her fingers seeming to engulf her fingers whole now. 

"Ah, don't worry this cream was made by Samantha and she made it so it can help out with the burns iris makes, though it won't be enough to get rid of it completely, it'll be just enough to heal most of it."

Sierra said quickly explaining the cream as she grabbed both of Marian's wrists with one hand and she spread the medicinal concoction onto the affected areas. The cream immediately seemed to cool and soothe the burns on Marian's fingers, the demon sighed softly at the feeling of relief from the burning in her fingers. She glanced down to where her hands were still held gently in Sierra's hands as the human added a second layer of cream to the purple burns. The burns seemed to have grown in size and now stretched up her fingers and faintly ran up the palm of her hand. Brilliant purple a vast contrast compared to the fake tan skin of her disguise. Marian was quiet as Sierra worked on rubbing the cream gently over bright indigo burns. Her false blue eyes growled dimly as she scanned over Sierra's form. The humans eyes narrowed in focus as she worked on spreading the cream, the space in between her eyes scrunched up in concentration. Marian felt a wave of guilt hit her as she realized how truly horrible it had been of her to infiltrate the party. She was going to be taking away a loved one from the three of The humans roommates, a big sister to her brother, and a good friend to the others.

Sierra sighed in satisfaction at what she thought was a good enough job at completely covering Marian's hands in the peppermint smelling cream that Sam had made. 

'That's makes this the twelfth time that we've had to use that cream on another demon guys'

Sierra said to the duo in her mind, she could feel the wave of guilt coming from iris at her words and tried to send back a wave of forgiveness and comfort to the other, Though she wasn't really sure if it landed or not. The first time they had to use the cream was when the first incident happened with iris actually causing physical pain to occur to another demon, all the way back nearly a year ago when Sierra was 21 and iris and Rosanna still content in her mind and it's odd vastness that seemed to shimmer in every possible color. Sierra and her other three roommates had been living at the dulplex for about two months when it happened one day in late February. Sierra and Sam has been alone at the house just relaxing on the couch watching a markiplier video on the tv Sierra had brought with her when she first moved, her laptop hooked up to the tv and playing a big screen version of the video. Ironically enough the game mark had been playing was the evil within 2 when Sierra had felt the feeling of being watched intently. 

"Mmm, Sammy?"

She had called to the other, her eyes going immediately toward the spot where she felt her watcher at. 

"Yeah?, what's wrong hun?"

The other had asked before she frowned she finally felt the presence. Sierra was frozen stiff as she stared at the figure standing in the doorway of the dulplex's kitchen. A tall shadowy figure who's eyes were a bright burning red. She could vaguely hear Samantha talk to her as she could hear a ringing in her ears, and iris and Rosanna shouting in anger at the figure before them.

The primal feeling of ice cold shock that she felt in that moment had her frozen in place,and she could vaguely hear Samantha talking to the shadow like it was someone she recognized. She oddly enough didn't feel too scared at the being, just empty and cold as her shock faded away. The form changed suddenly as it made its way slowly toward her, hallow and quiet steps painfully slow as the shadows melted away and revealed a tall thin man with sickly pale skin and his eyes still a deep ruby red. His hair a tangled mess of dried mud and dirt that hardly shifted when he moved. When he stopped directly in front of Sierra's still form her eyes never leaving his, and when his bony hand moved slowly forward to lightly caress her right cheek did the loud scream of anger leave her throat. Though the yell didn't come from her, but instead iris herself who had grabbed a hold of the humans body's control. She launched the humans body at the man and quickly gripped Sierra's hands tightly around his skinny throat that was small enough to fit in just one of the humans hand's. Samantha quickly yelled at Sierra's form as small sparks of purple fire licked the tips of the possessed's humans fingers. The small flames carried no warmth but instead a cold dark forbidding poisonous hate, that wrapped the man's neck and shoulders in a strange vibrant purple burn. The demon yelled as he pushed away at Sierra's possessed form her back hitting the couch firmly as he quickly grabbed at his neck and hissed in pain. 

"Mother of god, what the hell lady!?"

The demon yelled as iris hissed at the other demon before speaking to the other. 

"Don't what the hell me you fucking prick!, who the hell do you think you are? Trying to touch another demons claim?! This is my human and like hell imma let you touch her!"

Iris yelled at the other as Samantha quickly wrapped her arms around the waist of Sierra's form and hugged her tightly causing iris to growled venomously in agitation. 

"Lemme fucking go Sam!, I gotta get this fucker out of here!"

Iris yelled her voice distorting and twisting to one of pure malice and rage. 

"I'll rip you a new one you unforgivable piece of low bred meat!"

She yelled as Sam quickly pinned her down onto the couch. 

"Iris! Calm the fuck down!, that's averen one of the demons that I have protected in the territory around here!, he was just here to say hello."

Samantha said quickly as iris shook with rage that slowly melted away as Rosanna quickly took the reigns to Sierra's body away from the other. 

"It's alright now dear, I got control of Sierra's body! Iris just overreacted a bit there."

Rosanna's deep more motherly voice spoke up as she gently nudged Samantha's arms with sierra's hands. Samantha nodded and quickly released her hold on the other, allowing her to sit up and look at the other demon in the room who was still clutching at his neck and grimacing in pain. 

"Oh dear!, are you alright?! I apologize for my soulmates reaction she hadn't been expecting another demon to touch our human host so suddenly. Iris can get a bit territorial with our claims you see."

Rosanna explained as she stood up and rushed to the others form and gently pulled away his hands to survey the damage before tsking at the burns. 

"Do you happen to know any poison burn ointment recipes off the top of your head dear?, I'm afraid I never did bother memorizing any."

After that Samantha and Rosanna quickly made the healing concoction while averen sat back and tried to not wince in to much pain as the burn on his neck grew and extended down to the top of his collarbone and the bottom of his thin pale chin. After that incident Sierra and Samantha had agreed to always have at least one large jar of the healing ointment in every room of the dulplex and there vehicles just Incase anything like that happened again. And it did, as the year went on iris grew more and more Possessive of Sierra and those close to the human. It had gotten so bad that iris had argued with Sierra for a week straight on the matter, which had caused the human to gain large near unbearable migraines from said fights. Iris had only eased up on her possessiveness when Rosanna had fought with her about the matter. Which had been resulted in so much loud yelling that had caused the human to experience a headache so painful that she had passed out onto her bedroom floor only for Ricardio to find her unconscious half an hour later. Whatever had happened during the fight the two had, made the two not speak with each other for the next two days, which made Sierra's head feel so achingly empty and quiet like it hadn't been for so long. When the two finally made up it was iris who broke first to the fallen angel. Never had Sierra once heard iris sound so mournful in all of her life, of course after her apology Rosanna had forgiven the other but had made her swear to never act they way she did again within reason. Of course the demon had her slip-ups as anyone would, and the demon always made sure to apologize for it afterwards but this time the demon hadn't even bothered like she usually did.

Sierra brushed her thoughts away about the subject for the moment before she finally pulled her hands away from where they had been rubbing soothing circles into Marian's palms to ensure that the ointment was soaking into the others skin. 

"Again I'm sorry iris did that to you Marien, she hasn't done something like that for awhile now don't know why she decided to do it now..."

the dirty blonde said as she screwed shut the jars lid. 

"It's f-fine, I kinda deserved it anyway."

The demon said as she shifted her eyes away from the humans soulful ones. Eyes that she had seen on someone else long before. 

"What?, How? You haven't done a damn thing wrong!"

Sierra spoke as she reached her hands out and forced the other to look into her eyes. 

"Listen to me, yeah your a demon or whatever but that does not give iris a right to hurt you when you weren't even trying to harm me! Do you hear me? You are not in the wrong here! Iris is no one else not me, not you not even the earth or time itself is at fault right now for what iris decided to do! Okay?"

Sierra said her voice stern and full of determination that made Marian give the human her full undivided attention. Guilt filled the demon again as she looked at the human who was trying so hard to convince her that what had occurred hadn't been because of her. 

'Just tell her!, tell her what's coming before she finds out from the others!'

Marien yelled to herself internally as her false blue eyes welled up with guilty tears. 

"T-that's not true....."

she whispered quietly her head hanging low and heavy in the others hands. 

"What? What do you mean?"

Sierra asked confused as she pulled her hands away from the others face, palms moist from the others tears. She could faintly hear Samantha calling for her as she watched the demon in front of her shiver her entire form seeming to glitch suddenly, briefly showing a purple gray skinned woman before her form returned to the woman she had first seen in the restroom. 

'She's not human'

her mind reminded her as Marian sobbed out harshly. 

"I'm g-going to be taking you in f-four days from t-today Sierra!"

Her voice hard and wet as if the few words alone had been the most difficult things to say. Sierra stiffened at the words, her mind going blank iris and Rosanna going deathly quiet as she stood before the other deathly still.

The moment of shocked silence was uninterrupted until Samantha finally opened the RV's door and stumbled inside her face set into a stern look of disbelief and barely concealed anger. 

"Sierra! Hun! Are you alright?"

The other asked as she quickly went up to her side her face morphing into one of concern. Sierra worked her mouth and struggled to say something anything, anything that would make sense in her world that had been thrown into chaos with just a few words that had been spoken by someone that she had only met that same day. 

'What the fuck?, what the actual fuck?'

Her mind supplied her mouth. Samantha again glanced at Marian's crying form her hands covering her face as she sobbed loudly. 

'Shit'

the shorter dirty blonde thought as she led Sierra to one of the tan futons that sat beside the door that she had opened mere seconds before. 

"Sierra?, hun? Come on say something to me okay?"

Samantha said bringing Sierra's face to look up at hers. The other's blue green hazel eyes blinking rapidly as she seemed to finally catch sight of her. 

"What the fuck?"

The other whispered quietly as she blinked again shock still on her face as the other glanced back toward the still crying demon sitting on one of the kitchen tables chairs. 

"What the hell did you tell her?!"

Sam yelled to the sobbing demon, frustration filling her voice as she felt herself beginning to become overwhelmed with the situation as a whole. She didn't know how to snap Sierra out of her apparent shock or how to calm a currently sobbing demon who looked a second away from a panic attack, this wasn't her strong suit this was more of Roderick's thing. 

"Roderick!"

She yelled to the man from the barely open doorway, the man coming into the RV not even a second later Tim behind him the curious faces of the other patrons of the party peering behind the two men. 

"What happened?, is everything alright?"

The heavyset Hispanic asked before noticing the shocked look on Sierra's face. His brown eyes going wide in concern, as he sat next to the other who was still whispering quiet 'what the fuck's' to herself as her eyes began to focus again. Blinking before she looked around herself taking in her surroundings before she looked to Tim her eyes steely with a determination that the three had only ever seen her have for her story's, friends or family. 

"Shut the door Tim."

"Sierra I think that you should go outside for a second while we talk to 'Marian' for a minute"

Tim brushed her words away hesitantly. At the taller's words Sierra grew genuinely angry for the first time with the man. 

"Shut the goddamn fucking door Tim! I don't want to fucking hear it!"

Sierra shouted, her furious words making the other stiffen and causing the other patrons that stood outside to go deathly quiet. 

"'You need to talk to her for a sec' like hell i'm going to believe that shit this time!, you guys have been weird since i first brought Marian to the camp!"

The dirty blonde yelled furious her voice seeming to wrench itself from her lips by some unknown force of rage that no one had ever witness the blonde use before. 

"At first I thought maybe you three were upset at me for bringing her to the camp without asking you guys first!"

"Sierra, we're not upset at you!"

Samantha's voice rang out from behind the Now standing blonde, her voice full of concern that made Sierra feel an ache in her heart. 

'What are they not telling me?!, I wish they would just spit it out already.'

Her mind was in a blind rage, the pent up frustration and anger at the whole situation was eating her from the inside out. She hated not knowing what was going on!, she hated not being able to understand those close to her!, and most importantly she hated that she didn't seem to care in the slightest about what Marian had told her. 

'It's gotta be a joke or a birthday prank or something!'

Sierra's mind tried to convince her but she never had been great at lying to herself. Her mind went still as she realized why they had been acting so strange after talking to Marian. They fucking knew, and they hadn't told her. 

'Or they hadn't had the chance to yet...'

Sierra tried to reassure herself as she went still her hands clenched tightly at her sides, her knuckles white as she struggled to reel back her anger. 

'Calm down, your 22 for mirths sake! You can talk about this like adults or something!'

She thought as she struggled to take in shaky deep breaths and closed her eyes tightly. Images of a roaring inferno surrounding her that seemed to grow smaller and smaller until it was the size of a small flame that would been seen on the wick of a lit candle. 

"I"

She started again as she opened her eyes again looking to Tim tiredly. 

"I'm sorry for yelling, just"

she sighed again, her hands were still shaking with rage as she spoke. 

"Just please close the door, I don't want to ruin the party right now with my yelling."

She finished sobbing as the adrenaline from her sudden anger left her quickly like it always seemed to. Wordlessly the man shut the door and pulled up a chair from the kitchen table. 

"Sierra..."

Sam spoke her voice filled with concern for the love of her life. She hadn't seen Sierra get that angry before at anyone in all of the years she had known the other, but she knew it was more frustration than genuine hate for them. Sierra was frustrated with them, frustrated that she wouldn't talk to her about something that she of all people needed to hear. 

"Alright, w-we'll talk hun"

Samantha said her words quiet, 

"we'll talk."

Sierra fully wept after her anger left her body leaving her exhausted and guilty from her small bout of yelling. Her breathing wet and ragged with sobs, she was relieved under all of her crying. Relieved that Sam had agreed to talk to her about this, that they all would talk about this. 

"Thank you"

was all the blonde could muster as she leaned onto Roderick who hugged her tightly as she laid her head onto his shoulder.

After Sierra calmed down and Marian had finally stopped in her crying the five sat down at the kitchen table before Sierra spoke carefully. 

"Alright before we get started I need to get something out of the way first."

The human looked into Marian's false blue eyes as she spoke, determined expression on her face. 

"Marian I'm not angry or upset at you about this, that's not we're going to be talking about."

Sierra said as she looked at the other three around her a look of comfort in her eyes as she reached across the table and took Marian's healing hands into her own. 

"We're having this conversation so that all of us can be on the same page with each other, okay?"

Marian nodded in agreement a watery smile on her disguised face. At that Sierra gave her own nod and continued talking. 

"Good, first things first. Did you tell my roommates about this whole taking me away thing?"

The dirty blonde asked her eyes calm and relaxed. 

"Y-Yes, they said they were going to tell you when they were ready to...."

Marian trailed off looking down at the ground her face full of guilt, her eyes already beginning to brim with fresh tears again. 

"Hey, that's alright! That's good I'm not mad and it's alright that's why we're talking about this okay?"

The human went on smiling reassuringly as she felt Sam put one hand onto her thigh gently in a comforting gesture. 

"And beside I had a feeling something was up with how tense y'all looked when you were talking."

Sierra shrugged a nonchalant smile on her face as she spoke. 

"I'm just glad you weren't fighting about anything."

Another look of reassurance was sent to the demon her eyes looking back into sierra's calming ones. Her only response was a weak smile to the humans sitting in front of her. 

"Okay, second question and it's a big one okay?, why do you need to take me away in four days exactly?"

Sierra asked her hands rubbing soothing circles onto the back of Marian's hands. The demon took in a sharp inhale her left hand slipping from sierras to go and wipe at her eyes as she answered. 

"M-my sector leader, he was going to come here in a week your planets time to take you away from your planet by any means necessary."

Her answer was wet with her tears as she struggled to not cry. 

"Okay so you were sent here to take me is that what I'm hearing?"

"What! Ancient's no! I came here on my own!"

Marian raised her voice at the other in admonishment at the idea that she had been sent. 

"I came here so that I could take you away before he came and could do any harm to you or your family"

Marian rubbed at her face with both of her hands as if she was exhausted. 

"I would never come here at the orders of him!"

She hissed her eyes glowing brightly as anger towards her leader reared it's head. Fear shook Sierra as she took in the look of complete rage on Marian's face as she spoke distastefully of her leader. 

"A demon like him shouldn't ever be a sector leader! If I had it my way I would challenge him myself for the title of sector leader back on my planet if I wasn't already busy with my current job..."

Marian's voice trailed off quietly as she calmed down and looked at the tables top her hands tracing mindlessly over the swirls of the wood grain, nails grazing over the slalac that gave the wooden tables top the sheen that it had. Sierra tried to keep her eyes from watching the others fingers as they traced in the same pattern over and over. 

"Alright so you wanted to prevent your leader from kidnapping, that's great! But what do you mean your planet? I thought that all demons came from hell here on earth or something like that?"

Sierra asked her eyes creasing in confusion at the others words. Marian's face scrunched in confusion at the humans words 

"what? Hell? I don't know where that is but this is the second time I've ever been to earth"

confusion went through the four humans in the RV as Marian went on. 

"You mean there's demons who live here on earth?, I mean I do remember you speaking about an iris and Rosanna that you know... but I didn't know that there were demons here on earth!"

Marian spoke her fake blue eyes going wide at the humans with her realization. 

"I had no idea!, I just thought that the ones you were talking about came from my planet or something like that...."

Marian went on finishing her words, her eyes filled with surprise and confusion. Samantha was the first to snap out of her shock towards the demons words. 

"Well not every demon that we've met here on earth have come from earth, many of them have come from this place called hell. It's a place that is traditionally where many people believe their spirits go when they die and have committed many sins against their religion."

Sam looked into the others eyes as she explained. 

"Have you ever heard of a place like that on your planet?"

The short haired blonde asked as Sierra focused her mind onto the demon again. 

'She's not like us...'

iris said quietly genuine surprise in her words.

'She feels like the demons back where me and Rosie came from but it's so...'

the demon seemed to grasp at straws for the word she was looking for. 

'She's so docile'

Rosanna's voice spoke up her voice filled with realization. 

'She's nothing like us, the place she came from wasn't anything like ours, or like earth'

the fallen angel said her voice going soft and conflicted as she spoke on. 

'So She's What? An alien? A different species of demon? Come on talk to me here Rosanna'

Sierra urged the other as Marian answered Samantha's question. 

"I personally have only heard story's of a nightmarish place called hell, and well I'm grateful to say with confidence that I have never once in my life been there."

Marian spoke her voice a gentle and reassuring smile on her face. 

"And I apologize that your people have had to deal with such creatures who have come from a place like that"

her face grew frightened as she seemed to think about this version of hell that was spoken about on her world. 

"The idea of having to meet people who have the same name as my species and act like feral animals instead of reasonable people it just"

the demon shivered in disgust at the idea before continuing on. 

"It just leaves a foul taste in my mouth"

she finished before looking away a look of pure disgust on her face.

'Welp nice to know that we share the same namesake as a wimpy bitch'

iris growled annoyed with Marian's words. Sierra coughed awkwardly at the demons words before she spoke, her eyes shut and furrowed in annoyance at irises words. 

"Marian can you please give me a basic description of what your species is exactly, at least what they are on your planet if you can please."

Sierra asked her right hand going to her temple as she shot Sam a look of annoyance that simply said 'iris' causing the other to smile comfortingly at her. 

"Well my kind tend to usually have horns, sharp teeth that look similar to your version of a bulldog or I think a tiger?"

Marian grew confused before Tim coughed and made a rotating motion with his left hand that urged her to go on. 

"Oh! Sorry... anyway my kind have this kind of gray skin that is mixed with the color of our magic."

She went on her eyes flashing a brief deep indigo that had Sierra guiltily wishing to see her eyes glow again. 

"Mine is purple, or I think it's a type of indigo, not completely sure."

Marian continued before leaning more onto her chair. 

"But anyway, are eyes glow as well due to our magic. We tend to be strong enough to lift a good two tons, though that is not always the fact for our entire species."

Marian quickly tacked on at the end as the four other people sitting at the table looked at her various looks of surprise on the four humans faces. 

"Sorry if it looked like I was bragging or anything I'm not trying to I swear."

Her hands went up as she spoke in the apparently universal sign of 'woah man'. Sierra struggled to not laugh as she took in the look of worry on Marian's face. 

"Relax dude! We don't think you were bragging or anything. We just got a bit speechless is all."

Sierra said smiling good naturedly at the other, sounds of agreement coming from the other three. 

"Yeah kinda blew my mind there for a sec"

Roderick said chuckling breathlessly as he shook his head his left hand pressed up against his temple. 

"Alright let's just focus on the more pressing questions okay?"

Sierra asked as Marian sat up her eyes immediately going to Sierra's. 

"Agreed"


	6. Chapter 5: what do you mean memes songs aren't good dancing music?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drake punches Marian, Sierra and Marian enjoy the night the best they can with recent revelations, Sierra begin's to have feeling's for the daemon and is confused at her quickly growing feeling's for the other. meme song's are danced to and personal moment's are shared with friend's

It took them all the total of nearly two hours to get all of the finer details of Marian's reasonings behind coming to earth. It had been 11:30pm when they had started talking and it was now 1:23am as they left the RV to see how al the other party patrons were doing. Though as soon as Marian made her way out in front of the group a smile on her face that spoke levels of how relieved she was to get everything off of her chest. The moment had been quickly shattered as none other than drake ran towards the 'demon' and sucker punched her in the face. 

"Take that you bitch!"

Drake yelled as Nathan and jade quickly pulled the young teen away from the demon who was now covering her nose with her hands. Dark red blood pouring from her now broken nose as she watched the male fearfully as he was dragged away from the RV. 

"I'm not going to let you lay a fucking hand on my sister! You asshole!"

He yelled as he was taken away, Sierra and Samantha quickly rushing to Marian. Already a small puddle of blood forming in the grass of the ground as she cried silently her eyes wide and in shock of the event. 

"Shit!, Marian hun I need you to let me and Sam look at your nose please."

Sierra begged as she struggled to gently pry the others hands from her damaged nose, the demon whining loudly as she shook her head quickly. Another whine of pain coming from her as her Sierra could feel the bump of Marian's nose against the others hands, a hiss of shared pain coming from Sierra as Marian struggled more. Sierra looked to Tim and Roderick before she was snapping order's in quick succession. 

"Don't just stand there!, help me and Sam out!"

Sierra spat out her frustration building as the demon continued to be stubborn with the grip of her hands over her nose, the lower half of her face that could be seen was a mess of wet and drying blood. Her lips pulled into a grimace of pain. 

"God fucking damn it Marian! Let go of your nose or so help me I will kick my foot so far up your ass that you'll have something else to be crying about!"

Sierra yelled as she tore the demons hands finally away from her face and barking out an order to the two young men who were standing behind her as Samantha ran into the RV hopefully gathering some medical   
tools to help with the mess of blood that was Marian's face. 

"Go help Sam Roderick! Tim help me check if her nose is broken or not."

Sierra asked quickly as she gently touched at the crooked bridge of Marian's nose. The demon hissing at the gentle touch her eyes glowing vibrantly as she looked at Sierra her eyes full of pain and a fear that Sierra was quickly recognizing as Marian's fear of harm. 

"Shh we're just going to make sure that you nose isn't broken or worse okay?"

She soothed as tim felt gently around the others nose. 

"Shit, drake broke the hell out of your nose!"

Tim swore as he pressed down a little bit against Marian nose telling her quickly

"this is gonna hurt"

before he pressed the others nose into place a loud shout of pain coming from Marian as her nose was now fixed back into place with a sickening crack. 

"FUCK!"

The demon thrashed quickly as the pain in her nose was unbearable for a second before it faded away greatly before becoming only a harsh throb of pain. 

"There we go"

Sierra smiled as she helped the other sit upright, blood now dribbling weakly out of her nose instead of the bloody waterfall it had been before. 

"Your Alright, Sam can take care of you from here Alright?"

Sierra said as she and Tim helped her stand up onto her feet. Small winces of pains still gracing her face briefly before she smiled weakly at the human. 

"T-thanks"

Marian said weakly as Tim carried her inside the RV. 

"Now to deal with my asshole of a brother."

Sierra seethed quietly to herself as she turned her head to watch drake who was sitting at the snack table a dark glower of unbridled rage of his face.

Sierra struggled to hold back a chuckle at his look of anger and how ridiculous it looked on his face. 

'Goddammit he's angry and he punched an alien demon who you met in the public bathroom of a campsite on you and your girlfriend's birthday, forget it this is hilarious.'

Sierra thought as she began to give out a full and hearty laugh, her mind finally coming to terms with just how ridiculous the whole entire situation was. Everyone watched her uneasily as she howled with laughter, the force of it all making her fall onto the ground that was still slightly wet with either spilled soda, water or Marian's deep red blood that has specks of what looked like indigo glitter inside it. She laughed even harder when Brenna made her way to her side and gently touched her shoulder before quietly asking her 

"are you okay there fam?"

Just the question alone was enough to send her into another spell of laughter. 

"Y-Yeah I'm fine" Sierra said breathlessly in between bouts of her hearty laughter. "It's just this w-whole thing"

another bout of laughter interrupted her as she spoke. 

"This whole thing is just so damn ridiculous!"

She howled out as she laughed harder, tears of laughter poured down her cheeks as she laughed. Brenna was still for a moment before she began to chuckle herself.

"Yeah this whole thing is pretty out there isn't it?"

She chuckled before Sierra's laughter made her start laughing as well. 

'This whole thing is so ridiculous oh my sweet messiahs'

Sierra thought as a couple more of her friends began to laugh with her as well. Before long nearly everyone was laughing or chuckling a little bit at the whole scenario. They only one who hadn't joined in the laughter was her brother who seemed to be struggling with his frown. 

"Come on drake, look around us! This whole thing is just as ridiculous as superheroes being real."

Sierra said as her body still shaking with leftover chuckles that still spilled from her lips as she slung her right arm around her brother's shoulders. A smile filled with a joy that drake hadn't seen on his sister's face for a long time. Drake still seemed to frown at his big sister's smile and reaction to her situation, she was going to taken away for five years for gods sake! Why was she acting like it wasn't that bad?

"Drake please I get if your worried about me but come on, I'm fine and it's not like I'll be gone forever."

The elder sibling said smiling reassuringly to him. The younger's frown letting up slightly before he scowled his eyes welling up slightly before he shouted. 

"Yeah of course not!, cause it's not like your being taken away from our family for five years or anything!"

The young teen yelled his emotions overflowing and spilling forth in a huge torrent of words. 

"What the hell am I going to tell dad?!, 'hey dad, I had fun at Sierra's birthday party this week but my sister got taken by a demon and won't be coming back for at least five years from now! Hope that doesn't make you upset or anything!?'"

Drake yelled as he stormed up to Sierra his hands clenched into tight fists that he rose up into the air, sierra flinching involuntarily at the possible threat of being the next to be punched. But instead of the sharp and heavy pain of being hit she instead was pulled into a tight hug by her younger and slightly taller brother. She could feel the wet feeling from his tears as he cried out and held onto his sister like if he let her go she would disappear into thin air. Guilt filled Sierra as she gingerly held drake close to her faint memories of holding him tight when he was upset and angry back when they had been kids. No younger than first graders, and they had already felt like the world was against them. Children who became aware of the cruel world when they could have turned a blind eye against it. 

"It's going to be alright drake, I'm not going to be gone for five years..."

she told her brother softly, her blue green hazel eyes filling with tears as she spoke. She shook slightly as the overwhelming fear of what was going to happen in four days threatened to swallow her whole. 

"Marian told me that I'll most likely be gone to everyone here on earth for maybe five months at most." 

Her words were wet and fearful as she continued on 

"I'm the one who's going to be be gone for five years bro."

She finished before she held her brother tightly, quietly sending a prayer to whoever would listen to her to make sure that everyone she cared for would be safe and sound while she was gone. She tired to reassure herself that she would be safe, that everything would be fine but the memory of Marian's words echoed throughout her mind. 

'Your worlds government knows about my planet but they don't want anyone to go there're know anything about it, so they may be keeping an eye out for anyone like me... we have to be careful as to not let anyone know that I ever came and took you away Sierra.'

The demon had sighed tiredly as if the topic had been an eversore one for her.

'If they found out that I'm here they'll surely come for me as soon as they can.'

Marien had been dead serious about the situation and the repercussions that could possibly come with it. Sierra had to get everyone at the party up to speed on everything. She said to herself as she held her crying brother in her arms.

When Marian came out of the RV a half hour later she was shocked to see Sierra telling everyone about the whole situation and everything they had talked about before. The 'demon' watched the group listen to Sierra as she went on before she noticed the other had returned albeit with a thick gauze bandage over the bridge of her nose. The human smiled relieved at the sight of the 'demon' as she finished speaking. 

"And speaking of Marian there she is now."

Sierra said smiling softly. Everyone glanced or turned to see what Sierra meant as Marian and the three others came out of the RV. An awkward beat of silence rang out before Sierra quickly rushed forward to the 'demon' 

"Marian! I'm glad your alright!"

She said before she gently hugged the other before releasing the hug and thanking Samantha and her two other roommates for there help. After what seemed like a few awkward minutes the other party guests walked over and proceeded to ask Marian several questions about her planet. Sierra standing to the side and smiling as eventually everyone was asking the 'demon' dozens of questions about how her world was.

By the time it was 2:05 the party was ignited again though not nearly as lively as she would have hoped, considering quite a few of her friends had decided to turn in for the night. So only a good third of the guests were still awake including Sierra herself, Tim, Roderick, jade, Morgan, Brenna, Samantha, and unsurprisingly enough drake as well. Quiet music poured from the speakers as sierras laptop played song after song, that was slowly lulling everyone into a sense of calm and dreamless sleep. Tim And Roderick long since had put up what had been left of the snacks and drinks for the night, Samantha simply watched from the concrete bench that was closer to the RV with the few remaining awake guests as Sierra showed Marian how to dance. 

"So your supposed to put your hands like this"

The human said as she put Marian's left hand onto her side as the quiet music of sia's chandelier played from the speakers. Sierra swaying back and forth in time with the words and the rhythm of the instrumental in the background of it. Marian tentatively Following the humans lead as the music swelled in beat and tempo. Marian had long since given up on hiding her perpetually glowing eyes as she watched Sierra lead her around the open makeshift dance floor of the campsite. The human having long since went bare foot the longer the party had went on. 

"I still don't quite get why you guys dance like this though?"

Marian asked her face pulled into a look of confusion. Sierra laughed at the others words before she spoke, the dying embers of the fire pit softly lighting the right side of her face, as the bright artificial lights of the party lights that were still up and on lit the other side. Marian could feel her heart speed up at the sound of sierra's laughter. To her it sounded like a ringing of bells and chimes while to Sierra herself it sounded like her usual overly loud laughter that it always did. 

"You dork!, we don't have only one kind of dance here in earth! We have other ones too! this is just one example of dance here."

Sierra said her face full of mischievous joy as she led the 'demon' around towards the where Samantha was sitting at. 

"Sammy hun, can you help me teach Marian how dances here on earth are all different from one another?"

Sierra asked playfully as she pulled gently at her girlfriends hands in time with her words making the other laugh at her actions. 

"I don't know I think you were doing a fairly good job at showing her." 

Samantha said smiling brightly at the love of her life. Sierra laughed at the others words before she released her hold of sam's hands a smile on her face as a plan welled up in her mind. Marian stood awkwardly as Sierra carefully walked to her laptop and typed something down onto the piece of technology. A few clicks later a strange poppy beat rang through the early morning air. 'Ocean man, take me by the hand' the sound of a man singing rang out and Marian quickly grew confused as Samantha and everyone who was still awake laughed at Sierra who was currently standing beside the laptop a smirk of satisfaction on her face. Marian gave the human a look of confusion as the song went on the other humans either laughing or shaking there heads in admonishment. Sierra laughed before she grabbed Marian's hands whooping all the while before she began to spin the 'demon' around in a circle that made Marian clutch onto Sierra's arms firmly. The human laughed loudly before speaking to the other 

"whatcha think of the song?"

She asked as she still spun in a circle with the other who grew dizzy with the movement and struggled to focus on one thing before she just focused onto sierras smiling face.

"It's pretty interesting to say the least!"

Marian said as Sierra smiled at her widely before letting out another whoop of joy.

"It's a meme song if that's what had you confused fam!"

Sierra said as she slowly stopped spinning the two of them. Causing Marian to wobble dizzily and hold onto Sierra who wobbled too from all of the spinning before the two of them fell over. The two of them getting tangled with each other arms as they struggled to stand back up. Both failing multiple times before a Ricardio and Sam decided to help the two of them up. 

"Pffft! You two are such dorks!"

Morgan laughed from were he sat on the floor of his tent that he had brought, the male watching the event from the entrance of the tent. 

"Fight me fam!, I'm a natural born dork!"

Sierra shouted playfully as she yawned while leaning up against Roderick who shook his head a smile on his face all the while. 

"I vote that we all turn in for the night."

He offered which a vast majority that were still awake agreed aside from Sierra who whined at the suggestion but regardless agreed seconds after.

Sierra carefully put away her laptop and speakers into her purse, a yawn spilling from her mouth as she put up Her things. 

"Ocean man Sierra?, seriously? You could have at least played darude sandstorm."

Brenna's voice spoke up from behind her as Sierra finally stood up from the ground her black pants knees dusty from the concrete. Sierra laughed at her words and nodded her head as she leaned down and picked up her large purse and her discarded socks and shoes that she had long since taken off before dancing with Marian earlier that night. 

"Of course ocean man, It was the only meme song I could think of that was able to be slow danced to."

The dirty blonde said as she walked towards the RV, her hair a mess in its ponytail. Brenna could only laugh in agreement of her friends comment before she went silent. A silent question hung in the air between them as Sierra stopped before the RV's door, her head turning slightly toward Brenna

"Brenna? You alright?"

A minute passed before Brenna spoke up again. 

"do you trust her?"

The question although simple brought forth a flood of complex emotions from the other. Did she trust Marian?, she was silent for a moment before she quietly answered. 

"I- I'm not completely sure yet....but I feel like I can, but what do you expect? We did just meet her today." 

She finished her sentence quietly holding her purse closer to herself as if to give her sense of comfort that she had been struggling to hold onto since finding out why Marian had come to earth for.

"But I do know that she won't backstab me, she seems too smart for that kind've thing."

The words were filled with hope and a feeling of loss. Something Brenna nor Sierra couldn't place where it came from. 

"Besides i trust that she won't let me get hurt when I'm on connection! And heck maybe I'll be able to come back to earth earlier if I'm able!"

The dirty blonde said as she smiled at her friend reassuringly, not a trace of doubt on her face. Brenna smiled back to Sierra her eyes full of worry that her friend was just lying to herself to distract herself from what was happening around her. 

"Are you sure about that?"

Sierra looked away when Brenna asked the question. The 22 year old's mind in a chaotic mess of worry and fear of how exactly long she would be gone on her end. Guilt filled her being as she looked back at her friend, the look of worry on her face looked so much more dramatic than it actually was. But she couldn't bring herself to care anymore, why stress about the inevitable when they could just enjoy what they had while they could? She could feel regret immediately with that thought, how could she think of something that rude! This was her friend Brenna for messiahs sake! The friend that she had gotten the closest to in high school. 

"I-i don't know...."

Sierra admitted her face filled with the barest amount of fear that showed itself as she spoke. 

"I'm scared that I'm going to get hurt or something worse and that this is all just a big trick or something.."

she went on her eyes going hazy as she felt the overwhelming sense of dread that she had felt since the conversation with Marian. Could she trust Marian? Would Marian allow her to get hurt? What was her planet really as nice and peaceful as she had said or was that just another lie she may have told her? The thought's alone had her spiraling endlessly into a sense of regret and fear that she was all to familiar with. Hundreds of scenarios of 'what if's' filled her mind as she struggled to keep her breath steady and calm as she nearly fell into the endless pit of scenarios that could end so so horribly. How could she be so dumb!, this was a stranger that she had no knowledge other than the facts that she had told her that was supposedly true. How could she know?, how could she just a simple minded speck of dirt that lived on a planet that was hurtling through the empty void of space truly know?

Sierra was snapped out of her thoughts by Brenna shaking her slightly, the motion alone gave her mental whiplash as she shouted at the feeling of hands on her shoulders. 

"Sierra!, calm down! You're giving yourself a panic attack."

Brenna said as she carefully took sierras bag and shoes from her hands and grunted as she gently placed it onto the ground beside them before carefully guiding Sierra and herself onto the ground where all the while she instructed Sierra to slowly breath in and out. The other following the others words as she slowly came back from the darker parts of her mind. It was quiet aside from the occasional soothing muttering's from her close friend. Sierra could feel guilt knowing at herself as she gently hugged at Brenna before slowly pulling away her cheeks wet. When had she started crying? A few minutes passed before either one of them spoke. 

"S-Sorry about that..."

Sierra said her face filled with guilt, Brenna frowned at her friend before she spoke. 

"Sierra, it's not your fault this stuff happens. Don't worry about it."

She paused for a second before quickly adding on. 

"I mean the panic attack not the whole"

She gestured to the area around them in a while with her right hand before she finished.

"y'know"

Sierra chuckled at her friend before she spoke her face filled with a calm that always filled her after she had a panic attack. It was as if her mind had settled into a calm after the chaotic whirlwind of her thoughts had ceased into a more relaxed state. 

"I know, and thanks"

she smiled before going on.

"for helping me out with my whole thing."

She hesitated before she spoke again. 

"I honestly feel like a can sorta trust Marian to a point."

The dirty blonde said as she carefully pulled her things toward her. 

"But i just feel so guilty about this whole thing though. this whole week was supposed to be just all of us hanging out and everything, and now it's just all about me and that's not what I wanted this to be! Yeah today was a birthday party for me and Sam but that wasn't the point!"

Sierra's words grew frustrated as if her mind was battling with her about what to say. She took in a deep breath before going on, Brenna watched her carefully and listening to her with all of her attention. 

"I wanted this week just for all of us, kinda like a"

Sierra waves her right hand into the night air before she let it fall back into her lap. 

"Like a small vacation away from everything for all of us..."

her words were quiet and filled with shattered hope that she had once held for the trip. Images of talking and catching up with her friends and makeshift family filled her mind as she spoke. Her plans of a makeshift dance competition, of watching one of her many movies on a makeshift projector that she had made with the help of Roderick and Tim. Her hopes to be able to go fishing with all of them, or of swimming in the lake nearby had been shredded to tiny bits before her eyes when she had been told by Marian about the news. 

"I had no joke been planning on a whole bunch of the stuff that we could've done this week for the past five months"

she admitted to Brenna as she brought her knees up to her chin and rested her head atop her knees. 

"A whole camping trip and fun stuff we could have done just destroyed like nothing, but it's even worse cause now I won't even be able to enjoy this trip because of this hanging fact that I'm going away in four days!"

She raised her voice slightly before she flinched at the volume of her words her eyes looking away in embarrassment and shame before she spoke again. 

"I want to enjoy the days I have left with you all before I have to go.... so I'll be damned if I'm going to let some bad news prevent me from enjoying what I planned for all of us!"

she said a smile growing on her face as she leaned back her eyes shining with a newfound determination. Brenna smiled at her friend's words before she spoke 

"well? What are we waiting for? Let's make tomorrow the best that we can!"

Sierra nodded and smiled her eyes welling up with tears of joy before she carefully hugged Brenna gently before she spoke up 

"thank you"

The first day of the trip May have not been the best, but Sierra was determined to keep going with a smile on her face. Even if the world around her burned to the ground, even if she lost her way of life she would still push on as much as she could. She would not give up on herself again, not like she had almost two years ago. She smiled up at the starry night sky determined and she felt at peace for the first time that day.


	7. Chapter 6: domestic shopping store experiences and alien conspiracies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The group go shopping and Marian reveal's more about her species and her home planet, all while revealing the very real danger's that may try to come after her on earth.

Sierra sighed as she woke up, her face pressed up against Samantha's right arm. Samantha chuckling slightly as Sierra stirred awake.

"Morning"

She said softly as she petted back Sierra's wild bedhead. The usual straight and silky hair a mess of tangles and knots that made Sierra look about forty percent more done with everything around her. At least almost everything, not Sam, never Sam. Sierra had not once raised her voice at Sam in all of her time she knew the other. It was strange, it was as if every time Sierra even got a bit irritated at something just thinking about Samantha made her forget about whatever she had been frustrated about. Samantha was just such a calming person to be around for Sierra, whenever she talked to her her mind relaxed and was soothed, and Sierra did the same for Sam. Samantha smoked less around Sierra than anyone else, she was calmer and more relaxed whenever they were simply hanging out or just in the same room as each other.

"Mornin'"

Sierra slurred sleepily to her girlfriend, her mind still in a foggy and peaceful state as she slowly woke up. Her alarm hadn't woken her up this time, she had woken up on her own which was a rare occasion. She glanced blearily to where she had set her phone and glasses that had her ring was still looped onto from last night and glanced back up at Sam.

"What time is it?"

She asked before sitting upright slowly, she and Sam had slept on the large bed in the one bedroom that the RV had while Roderick and Tim hand slept in the kitchen area Tim sleeping on the floor with his sleeping bag and Roderick on the futon. Her brother had slept on the second futon they had and Marian, well she had told them that she would stay up and get her things from her makeshift camp that was a few minutes away. Sierra had ignored the small pit of concern that had filled her when Marian had told them that.

"It's about 11:45am hun."

Sam said softly as she kissed the top of Sierra's head causing the other to melt into her side even more. Sierra was pleasantly surprised with the news, she usually woke around 1pm when her alarm didn't wake her up, She must have had a good night of sleep last night. Though she couldn't remember what she may have dreamt about when she had fallen asleep. She nuzzled into Samantha's side as she dozed off slightly, the dregs of sleep still clinging onto her mind.

"Anything I miss?"

She asked her loved one as she shut her eyes sleepily the warmth of the soft sunlight that was spilling from the RV's windows warmed her up comfortably. Sam hummed slightly in thought as she thought about any event that may have occurred while the other had been asleep. She shrugged slightly before she spoke her right hand petting back Sierra's hair, the simple action making the other sigh softly at the feeling.

"Well nothing comes to mind though I heard drake and Tim wake up an hour ago."

Sam said as she sat up comfortably in the small bed. Sierra blinked awake at the mention of her little brother, a groan slipping her lips as she stretched herself across Sam's blanket covered lap.

"Shit, I promised drake that we would stop by the Walmart nearby so he could get a razor."

The drowsy dirty blonde said frustratedly as she sat up onto her heels of her feet. Her hands going to her face and rubbing at her eyes in an attempt to wake herself up.

"Guess I gotta get dressed for the day then."

She said halfheartedly, wishing that she could go back to sleep and enjoy the empty dreams that she had the night before.

'But you can't just lay around and sleep all day sierra, your an adult you have things to do.'

She told herself as she grabbed at her suitcase and opened it to look through her clothes to decide which ones to wear. Samantha chuckled quietly behind her as she also began to get ready for the day.

Sierra had decided at first to wear a casual black t-shirt that had a pink purple and green galaxy design on it with the outline of the words 'let's get weird' on it. It had been a shirt that she had owned for nearly four years now small pinprick sized holes covered the bottom of the shirt signs that the shirt had been well worn and well used. Sierra quietly noted to herself that she would need to buy a new shirt that had the same design on it. She had decided to wear a newer pair of slightly baggy blue jeans that fitted around her waist comfortably. She had topped the outfit with a pair of worn fuzzy baby pink and white socks that she noted admittedly that no one would care what color her socks were since they were going to be covered by her shoes later anyway. A quick run of her brush through her hair and her long hair was back to the usual smooth and tangle free locks that it always was. At Samantha's request she allowed her hair to be put into a romantic tuck that Sierra would admit looked pretty good. Thought her outfit of choice was a little odd with the hairstyle.

'Maybe people will take the whole let's get weird thing as the reason for it?'

Sierra thought to herself as she decided to change her shirt for a slightly less comfortable white button up blouse that had short sleeves that revealed her arms. The several dozen scars that adorned her arms from where she had picked at her arms and scratched at herself whenever she had gotten a little too upset at herself, though those had been when she was at her worst mentally. Faint memories of her mind an emotional and an overwhelming hate for herself and the scraping burning sensation of her hands scratching at her arms as hard as her mind and muscles would allow at times.

'But you're better now, and you're only going to get better from here.'

She reassured herself as she pulled on her worn black and pink tennis shoes that she had brought with her clothes, a smile of confidence and encouragement gracing her face. She would allow herself to go back to that state she had been so long ago not again.

"Hun? You alright?"

Samantha's voice broke through her darkening thoughts like a shining beacon shining through the dark night sky. She snapped her head up to look at Sam who was smiling calmly at her, a sad look of knowing on her face. Sierra smiled softly back at one of the most important people in her life.

"I'm better now"

she said honestly as she stood up and hugged her loved one close to her. The familiar warmth of content filling her chest as Samantha hugged her back, strong yet gentle arms holding her with so much warmth and love that if Sierra focused to much on just how it felt she was positive that she would fall into an endless loop of tearful joy and love for the woman.

By the time it was 12:28pm the smell of cooking bacon and eggs drew Sierra and Samantha out from the bedroom to a sight they hadn't been expecting. Marian was standing before the oven top of the kitchenette and was carefully flipping over thick slices of bacon and sunny side up eggs. The smell of the bacon was enough to make Sierra drool in hunger at the food that was cooking.

"O-oh! I'm sorry if I woke you up, I just wanted to surprise you all with breakfast if that was alright."

The violet eyed 'demon' said as she cracked another egg onto the cast iron pan that Samantha had brought along to help cook meals for them. Sierra glanced around the RV and realized that the three of them were the only ones in the RV.

"No it's alright Marian, we just got a bit surprised to see you cooking is all."

Samantha said as Sierra walked over to the RV's front door and glanced out of the doors window to see everyone sitting at the table farthest from the RV, The group seemingly talking amicably to one another. Sierra sighed in relief unaware that she had been even holding her breath at all.

"Oh thank messiahs."

She whispered quietly to herself as her right hand went to her necklace and gripped at the Small amethyst stone that she had tied to bits of crocheted yarn and braided ribbon. Her thumb rubbing the stone up and down as she stepped back from the door and slouched down into the futon that was next to the door. Samantha and Marian talked on for a few minutes Sierra barely paying any attention to their conversation. She suddenly felt confused, they hadn't brought bacon with them last night where had Marian gotten the bacon?

"Uh Marian?"

"Yes Sierra? Is something wrong?"

The 'demon' looked up from the food she was cooking and at the humans face her eyes still aglow like they had been they night before but not nearly as bright due to the sunlight that was pouring in from the window that was behind Sierra.

"Where did you get bacon from?, I don't remember us having brought bacon."

She asked her eyes narrowed in suspicion at the sudden bacon, her paranoia skyrocketing and screaming at her to run away and warn everyone about the food, a thought that Sierra quickly shrugged off as she struggled to calm down. Why was she acting so worried? Marian had already told them that she wouldn't bring any harm. Sierra forced herself to relax as Marian answered her question

"oh! I had brought some food with me from my planet, I had some left over so I thought that it would be polite of me to make breakfast for everyone."

She paused the space between her eyes crinkling slightly as she grew worried.

"I'm sorry if I should have asked first before making breakfast for everyone."

She apologized her head bowing slightly towards Sierra as she spoke.

"Woah woah! Hey it's alright! It's just some bacon ain't nothing to worry about!"

Sierra said raising her hands up in front of her eyes filling with concern for the other as Samantha rubbed at Marian's back in an attempt to calm her worry. Marian looked up at Sierra's words,

"really?, it's fine? I "

she straightened back upright as she brushed off her shirt, eyes still filled with some worry.

"I apologize for my reaction I just thought that I would have-"

she paused before seeming to grasp for words while Samantha and Sierra had no idea why she stopped, as she finished her words with a shrug and forced smile.

"It's fine! I'll just make sure to ask next time before I mess with the food."

Marien said quickly as turned to the finished bacon and quickly laid them out onto the paper towel covered plate, her cheeks flushed darkly. Sierra watched her with confused worry as she quickly headed out the RV door to announce that breakfast was ready.

It was 1:15 am by the time everyone had eaten the fairly small amount of bacon. Sierra promising them that they would go shopping at the nearest Walmart and bring back McDonald's for everyone. Of course everyone cheered at that suggestion and Sierra, Sam and Tim were quick to get everyone to write down what they wanted from McDonald's along with some money for there meals. Sierra secretly would just cover what she had to if the price for everything was over or under the amount they had gotten. Then once 1:36 rolled by Sierra, Tim, Morgan, Brenna and surprisingly enough Marian all piled into the car, lists in hand for what all of the other guests had wanted that were at Walmart. Sierra sat in the backrow of the truck with Marian and Brenna on opposite sides of her, the five of them all were packed tightly into the vehicle. An image of a sardine can came to the forefront of Sierras mind as she sat squished between the two, she struggled not to chuckle at the imagery.

"So what is a wall-mart?"

Marian asked her eyes squinting in confusion as she struggled to pronounce the name of the store. Sierra chuckled lightly at the question before she opened her mouth to answer her question,

"it's a-"

Brenna quickly cut Sierra off with her own answer.

"it's a giant white concrete wall that has the word mart painted onto it that we bow to for an hour before we are given the food and items that we want for free."

The red heads smile was one of mischief as she spoke. Sierra snorted as she tried to hold in her laughter at her friends answer, Marian just looked at Brenna her face confused before she slowly responded.

"People on earth bow to a giant concrete wall with the word mart painted on it?"

Her face grew even more confused as she looked to Sierra for confirmation. Sierra laughed loudly at the 'demons' look of pure confusion, Brenna laughing as well before Sierra put her left hand onto Marian's right shoulder a smile on her face.

"No no it's not a giant wall, Brenna was just messing with you about that."

She explained to Marian who's face smoothed out into one of understanding before she too began to chuckle.

"That's pretty funny!"

She said as she laughed her eyes lighting up in joy. Sierra could feel her face flushing slightly as she watched her laugh, Sierra chuckled as Marian shook her head in a good natured way before she spoke again.

"That's was a good one!, but seriously what is a wall-mart?"

She asked again looking to Sierra and Brenna a soft Curious smile on her lips. Brenna was the first to answer again,

"oh my god it's like the best thing ever. It's basically a giant store that has almost everything there."

She said smiling as she spoke. Sierra chuckled before explaining more to Marian,

"it's basically a giant super store that sells almost everything you need in your daily life here. Everything from meds to food and clothes."

Sierra finished her right hand going around in a circular motion as she listed off a few of the items available to be bought. Marian was quiet nodding as the two went into more depth about the store, her face one of concentration before it morphed into one of confusion.

"Wait then where do you all get your strife weapons to defend yourselves?"

Her face was serious as she spoke her eyes creased in confusion. The once light hearted and cheery atmosphere that had been in the truck was now filled with shocked confusion.

"What? Weapons? Why would we need weapons Marian?"

Sierra asked confusion clear on her face. Marian's face scrunched up in confusion at the question.

"To defend yourself?, I mean is that a thing on earth?"

The 'demon' asked. Brenna glanced to Sierra her face confused as she spoke looking up back at Marian.

"Uh, no it's not, we have guns but you need a permit for that kinda thing."

The redhead said her face still confused as she spoke. Morgan spoke up from where he sat at the front passenger seat.

"is that a thing that's common on your planet?"

Marian was silent for a moment as if she was thinking about how to answer the question.

"Yes and no, it's a difficult thing to explain."

She said her tanned face scrunching up in frustration at the question and her lack of an reliable answer.

"Well connection doesn't have country's like earth does."

She finally said her blue eyes full of anxious hope that her words would answer the question well enough. Everyone in the car listened to her with interest as Tim drove the truck onto the street that would take them to the entrance of the campsites. The gateway was a tiny concrete building that had two gates, one on each side of it. The building was about big enough for two people to sit inside it comfortably without bumping into one another. Tim rose his voice slightly before Marian could continue her explanation.

"Alright I need you to all be quiet for a sec while we go through the gate."

He said as he rolled down his window the summer heat beginning to seep inside the trucks interior. Everyone nodded there heads or gave him a thumbs up as they drove up beside the small building's window that was open as a small black woman glanced to Tim. Tim quickly explained that they were going to Walmart for a moment, the woman nodded in understanding as she pressed whatever button she needed to and the gate opened with a slight screech, the sound of slightly rusty metal grating on sierra's ears causing her to flinch at the sound. As quick as they had pulled up they were making there way down the slightly dusty road that lead to the highway. Tim rolled up his window as he told them the okay to continue talking.

"Anyway we don't have country's, we instead have these large bits of territory called sectors."

Marian said as she looked out the front car window and out at the area around her, a nervous energy surrounding her as she spoke.

"Oh! I remember you telling us about that last night."

Sierra said quickly, her eyes shining with recognition at the others words. Marian smiled and nodded at her continuing on as she did.

"Yeah I did there instead of just land they include the water and air in each sector, but no one really has to worry about arguing with each other about how big each sector is since what each sector specializes in is more important than how big they are."

She said her eyes growing soft as she spoke.

"at least no sector has complained about needing more territory since the ancients passed away."

Her eyes grew slightly morose at her words. Tim spoke up at that,

"so what were these 'ancients' that your talking about?"

He said as he turned the truck down onto the highway. Marian frowned gently her eyes furrowed in thought as she spoke her next words.

"They were the three founders of the new world that everyone in modern connection live's at."

She stiffened up at her words as she seemed to be remembering something painful.

"They were all assassinated by three blood elves."

The 'demon' hissed out the last two words with slight distaste for them, though she flinched at them as soon as she said them.

"I-i apologize I guess I still am a bit against a few of their breed even after all this time."

She said a look of disgust at her words and the hate that had fueled them.

"Hey it's alright I mean at least you have the common sense to apologize for it."

Sierra said hesitantly, a wad of slight concern at the venom of the others words. Marian shook her head sharply.

"no it isn't alright I shouldn't feel any negative feelings towards them, it had happened three centuries ago and it wasn't the whole species fault for three individuals actions."

She frowned sharply as she looked out the window her eyes tracking all the cars that passed them.

"It isn't a healthy thing to think about, and besides"

she said as she glanced down to Sierra who blue-green hazel eyes were wide as they watched her carefully.

"Just because we're becoming friends of sorts doesn't mean you have to brush over my faults."

Sierra could feel heat rising to her face, she felt uncomfortable under Marian's gaze that was soft yet stern.

'Well at least she's bothering to stand up for you.'

Iris hissed lowly in the back of her mind, the demons flare of anger whipping out slightly. Sierra flinched at the sensation but brushed it of as a shrug.

"Well at least your smart enough to know it's wrong which is more than a majority of the planet can say so that's something."

Sierra said quietly her eyes downcast to her lap where her small blue leather shoulder bag laid.

Marian flinched at the others words and glanced around to the other passengers in the truck. Tim was silent as he focused on driving the vehicle but his hands were slightly tight on the wheel. Morgan was silent in the seat next to him but a frown was visible on his pale white freckles face. While Brenna glanced away when the 'demons' eyes went to her. Sierra spoke back up struggling to clear her throat of the golfball sized lump in her throat.

"Hey it's alright your not in the wrong or anything, it's just that well"

Sierra was silent for a second her eyes filled with a deep sadness that shook Marian to her core.

"Racism is a thing we all have to deal with her on earth, I mean I've been called green hienz for fucks sake! And I'm not even that Irish!"

She chuckled at the memory of the nickname that she had back in middle school. Marian's form relaxed at Sierra's words, a weak chuckle slipping from her lips.

"Green hienz? Why that? I don't see How anyone would have seen you as green?"

She asked taking the nickname literally. Sierra and Morgan laughed loudly at the question, Brenna snorting in laughter when she tried to hold on her laughter. Marian just looked around in confusion at there laughter.

"Did I say something funny?"

Sierra laughed louder at her words as the truck made its way to Walmart.

When they made it to the large supermarket everyone was in fairly high spirits, mostly due to the several stories that Marian told them all about her home planet.

"So your species isn't called demons right?"

Morgan asked curious as Tim parked the truck in one of the few empty parking spaces in the large parking lot. The black haired woman nodded,

"that's right my species is called daemons, we don't nearly have as much negative history and abilities as demons but it's been theorized that my species was descended from a small group of docile well meaning demons."

She said as they began to unbuckles themselves from their seats.

'Pshh I highly doubt that theory.'

Iris hissed grouchily in Sierra mind. Sierra rolled her eyes at the demons words as she opened her door and jumped down to the concrete below the truck.

'It could be possible iris, I mean you and Rosie don't know everything about Demons even though your one.'

She replied to the frustrated demon who gave off the feeling of rolling her eyes. Rosanna shook her head from where the two of them resided in the humans head.

'Don't act rude to Marian dear. She hasn't given us any reason to not trust her.'

The other said calmly to her soulmate. Iris's form flowed slightly as she sighed out in surrender.

'Fine I'll give her a chance but it still doesn't explain why she said she was a demon earlier.'

She said to Rosanna as they watched from sierras mind as she walked and talked to her friends.

"Wait if your not a demon than why didn't you correct Sam when she called you a demon?"

Tim asked looking skeptically at Marian, who purses her lips at the mention.

"Oh well I kinda misheard what she called me, back on connection demons and daemons are typically seen as similar species though we don't share that much in common."

She paused before blushing darkly in embarrassment.

"I guess I was more worried to correct her when you were interrogating me yesterday."

She glanced to the tall short haired man before continuing.

"Samantha is very terrifying to me, I feel like she was looking right through me during the whole thing."

'At least we now know that we don't share the same namesake as her.'

Iris said as Sierra listened to the two conversation.

'Sweet messiahs'

Sierra groaned internally at the demons words.

"Well at least let's focus on getting our shopping done."

Sierra said as the group of them made it to the front of the store. Everyone in the group agreed as they walked through the sliding doors of the store.

After what felt like hours the group of them finally got there shopping done. Marian surprisingly offering to pay for all of there items when they made it to the checkout.

"You sure you want to?"

Sierra asked apprehensively as she looked down at the nearly overflowing cart. The cart filled to the brim with groceries, hygiene items, blankets, sleeping bags, a tent repair kit, and quite a few miscellaneous items that the others back at the camp had asked for them to pick up or at least see if the store was carrying them. Marian smiled kindly at the dirty blonde her face relaxed and calm as she nodded her head.

"Of course!, it would only be respectful of me to pay for everything after dealing with me."

The disguised daemon said scratching at the back of her neck, a look of guilt on her tan face. Sierra shrugged apprehensively as she sighed.

"Alright but it's a lot of stuff fam."

She said stepping away from the cart and allowing the slightly taller Marian to take the cart. Sierra watched as she pushed the cart to one of the less busy registers as she stood with the rest of the group who watched as the event transpired before them. Morgan was the first to break the silence with a whistle.

"Dang, she probably thinks that she has enough money to be able to pay for that if she looked that confident in herself."

He said standing beside Sierra who watched as Marian begin to load up the conveyor belt quickly with all of the items. Sierra shook her head quickly and sped walked to the cart and helped the other out with putting everything on the belt. The other three following suit in case the daemon needed help.

"Alright your total due is $250.05 ma'am."

The cashier said smiling brightly from where she stood behind the register. Marian smiled and pulled out a wallet from seemingly out of thin air, causing everyone to do a slight double take. The cashiers eyes widening at the sight her mouth opening slightly in shock before she blinked her eyes rapidly before coughing awkwardly and clearing her throat. Marian smiled softly as she opened her wallet and proceeded to pull out five hundred dollar bills as if they were single bills.

"Will this be enough to cover the fees miss?"

She asked handing the bills to the cashier who nodded dumbly at the bills that seemed to have a strange color and look to them. One of them seeming to appear as if it had been sealed in a air tight plastic cover.

"Uh, y-yeah this is more than enough ma'am."

She said before putting the money in the till and handing the the daemon her change and receipt.

"Thank you so much!"

Marien said politely as she took the money and receipt before beginning to put the change up into her wallet before pausing and handing the woman a hundred dollar bill casually.

"Here's a tip for you ma'am. I hope you have an amazing day!"

Marien said as she quickly pushed the cart away waving goodbye to the cashier who was standing at her register with a look of unbelief at the money she had been given.

"I- Uh, t-thank you ma'am!!"

She finally shouted out to Marian as Sierra, Tim, Morgan, and Brenna all followed after he with looks of shock and dumbfounded surprise on their faces.

"Well"

Brenna began slowly, her eyes wide with shock still.

"At least we know that she can take care of paying for herself."

At that Morgan and sierra laughed nervously as Tim rubbed at his forehead with one hand, in an attempt to think about where the daemon could have possibly had gotten that much money from.

Marian unsurprisingly enough also offered to pay for the meals at McDonald's when they had ordered there. Sierra and Tim didn't even bother trying to tell her no as the daemon proved to be quite the most passive aggressive person to have ever set foot in a Walmart. Brenna made jokes about the whole situation and Marian's surprisingly healthy money situation.

"At least we know that she can handle sierra's impulse buys now."

She said as they made there way out of the built in McDonald's that was in Walmart, leaving behind another flabbergasted cashier who had been tipped another hundred dollar bill. Sierra laughed loudly at her friends comment, her eyes wide and flabbergasted at the event that had occurred merely twenty minutes ago.

"Oh sweet mirthful messiahs!, I She-she she fucking payed for all of it!"

Sierra quickly turned to Marian who was watching the entire mental breakdown that was happening to Sierra at the pure shock that went through the human.

"Marian where-no HOW the FUCK! Did you have enough money to pay for all of our SHIT!"

The dirty blonde shrieked grasping onto the tallers shoulders and proceeded to shake her gently. The disturbance caused many shoppers to look the groups way with confusion and looks of concern.

"Uh Sierra I think you might wanna dial it back a bit there with the yelling. People are looking"

Tim said quietly from where he stood pushing the cart, snapping Sierra out of her over-exaggerated yelling. Sierra released her hold of the others shoulders and laughed anxiously at the mention of the other customers staring at them. A pit of guilt and embarrassment forming in the pit of her stomach. Marian laughed awkwardly at the reaction from Sierra before she quietly spoke up to the group.

"Maybe we should start heading to the car now?"

The group was quick at her suggestion as Sierra awkwardly walked with them deathly silent as her face was filled with a look of regret at her outburst.

'Idiot, look at what you did! You caused a scene like always'

sierras mind hissed at her. Her venomous self hate reeling back it's nasty head and wrapping itself around her mind. As they made there way to the car Sierra spoke up quietly

"s-Sorry about that guys."

She looked down at the ground underneath her watching her feet move forward following her groups shadows.

'They hate you now, you fucked up you ldiot!'

Her mind hissed to her again, the words drowning out iris and Rosanna as they struggled to break through the humans dark thoughts.

"Hey it's alright fam, it happens sometimes."

Brenna said softly as she gave the girl a quick side hug. Sierra smiling a wide bittersweet smile at her words, Morgan and Tim quickly following suit with words of reassurance.

"Yeah it's alright I only said something cause you were getting a little loud is all, I didn't want you to get called crazy or anything."

Tim said reassuringly to her as Morgan quickly wrapped his left arm around her neck and gave her a noogie.

"Calm down, you didn't do anything wrong fam."

Morgan said smiling reassuringly to her. Sierra's mind brightened at there words as the heavy fog that had surrounded her mind disappeared almost completely.

As they made it to the truck Marian spoke up.

"I earned it."

Her voice was calm and relaxed as she spoke. Sierra looked up the disguised daemon who was looking at her as she was placing their purchases into the bed of the truck.

"What?"

"My money, I earned from working my job on connection."

Marian clarified with a smile. Sierra's mind filled with brief confusion before her eyes widened in comprehension at her words.

"Oh! What job do you have on connection?"

She asked her eyes creasing in curiosity, as she placed three more bags onto the truck. Marian grimaced at the question as she struggled to think of an answer for it.

"It's a military job, a fairly important one as well but I can't really tell you about it completely yet."

She said looking away from the human as she placed four more bags onto the truck's bed before she quickly entered the inside of truck. Sierra watching in confusion at the answer before she put the last few bags of purchased goods onto the truck bed and closing the end shut.

'Way to be suspicious.'

Iris grumbled at the lack of a clear answer. Sierra shrugged as she yelled to her group that she would put the cart up as she quickly began to speed walk to one of the cart corral that had a small amounted carts left inside it along with bits of trash that surrounded them. Half empty McDonald's cups and wadded up brown paper bags littered the ground. Sierra grimaced at the sight but didn't say anything as she suddenly wished that she had a trash bag with her that would magically spawn out of her purse. She sighed lowly as she walked away from the carts the image of litter surrounding the spot lingering in her mind even as she buckled into her seat and Tim drove them out of the supermarket's parking lot.

The rest of the day when they made it back to the campsite went without much excitement aside from Brenna and Morgan telling everyone about how Marian was in the military on her planet. Marian only response to everyone's question about her position was the same as it had been for Sierra.

"I can't really say what rank I am quite yet sadly."

She said holding up her hands and giving a nervous grin at all of the attention she was garnering from everyone. Sierra was the one who asked as to why she couldn't say.

"Because of your three friends that are attached to you, and because your government might question you all about it if they come here to investigate this."

At her last comment Marian looked around at the trees surrounding the campsite, a look of nervous concern on her face all the while. Sierra gave her a look of confusion as she glanced around them as well, a couple of the other camp patrons following suit.

"Actually I'm shocked that I haven't had to deal with one of your dark suited kind yet."

The daemon said a look of confusion on her face as she chewed at one of her right hands knuckles.

"Dark suited?, what?"

Sierra asked before she quickly chuckled at the others words.

"Do you mean the FBI or something ?"

Marian looked at her with confusion before she spoke again

"what? I'm talking about the ones that come in pairs and try to make themselves look human way to hard."

Sierra frowned at her words a memory of long nights when she'd watch video after video of alien conspiracy videos, the real version of the men in black. The video evidence of two men who look near identical and towering over everyone around them. The matching black suits and hats, their bald faces drawn and sketches of them in the videos and how intimidating they appeared to be. Quite a few of the camp patrons stiffened as the realization went through them.

"You mean the men in black?"

Morgan said his eyes creasing in concern at her words. Marian nodded

"I guess you could call them that, when I met them they were fairly rude to me and smelled nothing like your kind."

She wrinkled her nose in disgust at the memory.

"They smelt like chemicals and something else that just smelt wrong."

She said glancing around herself again.

"Last time it took them only two days to track me and find me when I last came to earth."

She furrowed hers eyes in thought at the memory.

"I was even disguised like I am now so it should have been difficult for them to have found me like they did back then, But then again they weren't human at least from what I could tell."

She went quiet for a moment before she spoke up again.

"I wasn't the only one on earth at the time, it was me and a coworker of mine. We had been given the task to attempt a peaceful meeting with your worlds leaders but, well we had a few problems that led us to be forced to go back home."

Marian looked down at her hands at her words seeming to be lost in whatever had transpired that last time she came to earth. Sierra was concerned for her as she quietly asked

"what happened?"

Marian was silent for a moment before she sighed and looked down at her food that was laid out before her.

"We were lead to a strange building that was in an area I believe is called Nevada, we were both taken into this facility they called Area 51. They interrogated the both of us, asked why we came to earth and when we wouldn't comply with there demands they would threaten to harm the other."

Her eyes grew misty and dark with the memories that was replaying over and over in her mind.

"My coworker was the one who was threatened typically in these demands of there's, me and her had been trained to withstand these kinds of demands but we complied with them as best we could."

She closed her eyes a look of regret on her face.

"When they seemed satisfied with there answers they told us that we were not allowed back on earth and that if we came back they would kill us one way or another."

Marian looked up to the group around her.

"This is why I had to come here and get you Sierra, if my sector leader came barreling in here in search of you he may have been killed. I may despise him but I couldn't just sit back and watch him throw himself into a situation that he had no idea about"

She said her voice raising slightly above her normal speaking volume.

"I also couldn't watch as he harmed your family and friends in an attempt to get you."

She said sighing softly at the topic.

"He would have ruined connection's image with that stunt. An image that the ancients and the sectors leaders after them have struggled to maintain since there passing."

She said rubbing at her face with her right hand.

"But that why we can't take to long here on earth before we leave for connection, but I just couldn't force you to come with me Sierra."

She said looking at Sierra, her softly glowing purple eyes revealing themselves as she spoke.

"That's why were leaving in two days, that way you have enough time to spend with your family and friends before we go."

Marian said gently.

"You have a choice Sierra, I can leave now and try to prevent my leader from coming here for you or you can come with me. Regardless of what you choose I will respect your wishes and your choices. It's all up to you."

She finished as the group listened intently, the area around them deathly quiet. Sierra took her words in and felt like the next thing she'd say would change everything for the better or the worst. An image of a river branching off into hundreds of different tributaries and streams filled her, the near oppressive sensation that she could cause another timeline to appear with her choice that she made. A near mirror image of herself that would have only slight differences. She took in a deep breath slowly as she closed her eyes in an attempt to not fall into the pit that was seemingly surrounding her mind.

'Choose What feels right'

she told herself as she breathed out slowly, her nerves and anxieties melting away as she opened her mouth to speak.

"I'll go with you."


	8. Chapter 7: siblings fight sometimes y'know?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sierra and Drake fight about her recent choice to go with Marian. a sibling relationship rekindle, Marian talk's to her brother and Sierra tell's Sam and Ricardo about her feeling's for Marian.

Sierra had been met with silence at her words at first. Then Marian breathed out a sigh of relief at her answer

"oh thank the gods."

Marian breathed out relief evident on her false tanned face.

"I'm glad you chose that cause I have no clear idea how I would even manage to prevent my leader from coming here."

She said honestly as she relaxed putting her face into her hands and rubbing at her face in relief. Everyone around her slowly and quietly began to speak, each with their own opinions on her choice.

"You sure you want to do that?"

Brenna asked beside Sierra before another was speaking

"like hell your going!"

Drake immediately yelled quickly grabbing Sierra around her waist and yanking her away from the table and everyone around them.

"What the hell sierra!, are you even thinking about this?"

He demanded his eyes filled with concern. Amelia and Nathan quickly agreeing with him, looks of confusion on there faces at sierras words. Sierra pulled herself away from her brother, a look of frustration enveloping her face.

"Stop!, it's my goddamn choice alright. I know it may not have been the best but for fucks sake think about it!"

Sierra yelled before gesturing to Marian who still sat at the concrete table in shell shock at the turn of events.

"She just said she wouldn't have a great plan in case I chose to stay! I could have chosen to stay but I chose to go because like hell I'm going to let some alien leader come after me and harm anyone that I care about!"

She yelled determined to get her point across, the overwhelming feeling of anger and frustration at her chosen family's reaction.

"And beside"

her voice quieted slightly.

"I rather have a choice than being forced to go against my will, it's not even like I'll be gone for five years to you at all!"

She continued a look of pure remorse on her face as she went on.

"It'll seem like I'm gone for five months at most for all of you!, and besides Marian's told us that I'll be able to eventually get in contact with you all even while I'm there."

She finished a look of exhaustion crawling onto her face as she looked at drake struggling to keep her eyes on him even as she wanted to look down at the ground and away from his look of shock at her yelling at him.

"Why can't you just let me make my choices without being like this."

She said quietly her eyes finally looking away and down to the ground. Drake stood stiffly at sierras words, he felt aggravated at her but the words he wanted to say wouldn't come out.

"Well?"

Sierra asked looking back up to him her eyes shining with I shed tears of frustration.

"Aren't you going to say something?"

She asked again only to met with more silence from her brother who looked down at the ground a look of furious anger on his face. Sierra groaned at his lack of a response.

"well FUCKING SAY SOMETHING!"

She yelled loudly, her yell loud enough to scare away the birds in the surrounding trees and causing almost everyone around them to flinch at the sound. Sierra grew desperate as her brother continued to avoid looking at her.

"FUCKING ANSWER ME!"

Her voice grew strained and desperate as she took a step towards her brother, her hands at her sides clenching and unclenching In aggravation.

"PLEASE DRAKE JUSt SAy something!"

Sierra yelled again her voice going hoarse as she grabbed at his shoulders and gripping them tightly. Everyone was silent as they watched the exchange, none of them knowing what to do as Sierra began to cry harshly as she gripped at her younger brothers shoulders.

"Fucking-SAY SOMETHING!"

She cried out shaking his shoulders slightly causing him to snap his head up at her and shrug her grip off as he glared at her anger and what seemed like hatred at her. Sierra stepped back as her brother yelled at her.

"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH ME!"

He yelled loudly his eyes immediately tearing up in anger.

"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY?!, CONGRATULATIONS SIERRA! Your fucking leaving us!"

He yelled as he grabbed at his hair and yanked it slightly in his anger.

"WHAT THE HELL AM I going to tell dad?!"

He asked looking at her tears pouring down both of there faces as he spoke. The sharp pain that struck through her heart at the mention of their dad caused her to yell back.

"I don't know!"

She yelled her voice hoarse as she yelled, her throat sore as she cried her heart out at his words. Emotional pain going through her like a white hot fire that burned her from the inside out.

"Oh wow t-that's a big fucking surprise now isn't it, Sierra not having an idea as to what she's FUCKING DOING with HER LIFE!"

He yelled the dam that seemed to have been holding him back inside breaking down more and more as he spoke, his words stuttering as he grew more upset with his sister.

"Fuck you! At least I tried to get my life started!"

She yelled at him as she ran at him a fist raised to punch him. Anger clear on her face, tears of frustration and anguish at her brothers words.

It wasn't just about her leaving now, he had brought up one of the many things that Sierra hated the most about herself the fact that she couldn't seem to become an adult fast enough for her family to be content with. Looks of barely hidden disappointment on there mother's face when she told her she was bisexual and that she liked a girl at school. The looks of annoyance that her stepdad gave her whenever she messed up something be it big or small. The oppressive feeling from their dad giving her a feeling of condescension when she told him the pitifully small list of things she had gotten accomplished since the last three months of seeing him. She hated it, she hated feeling small and weak and helpless, but that was all she was taught to be. Don't talk back, don't yell at your elders, respect everyone around you even if you don't like it. Take every single painful look of disappointment or embarrassment that your family gives you when you fuck up, that was all she and her brother had been taught. So why? Why was her brother so much more cold than her? Why didn't he care as much as her about what people told him or the looks he was given? Why was he becoming more and more like their dad with every passing day. Sierra honestly hated that she was even thinking of delivering pain to her brother as she felt her fist make contact with her brothers right cheek.

'Weak'

Her mind hissed at her.

'your weak and pathetic, good for nothing!'

She yelled as the words filled her mind as her brother threw a punch at her face. Pain blooming on her left cheek, she could taste iron blood in her mouth pain blooming inside her mouth as she accidentally bit her tongue.

"I fucking tried okay!"

She yelled as she wrestled with her brother onto her grass covered ground underneath them. Grass tearing underneath them as they yelled at each other.

"I can't be expected to be perfect okay! Everyone fucks up!"

She yelled loudly as she felt drake bite at her hand that was near his mouth. Pain exploded in her hand as his bit down harder at her.

"FUCK!"

She yelled as she pushed her hands farther into his mouth making him gag at the feeling of her hand being in his mouth and forcing his mouth to open. She quickly pulled her hand out of his mouth hissing in pain as he sat up and threw another punch at her face.

"Fuck you!"

He hissed as she dodged his punch, and kicking at his legs hard.

"I tried to be the best that everyone in our dumb family wanted me to be okay?!"

She yelled standing up and watching as her friends stood nearby hesitant to pull them apart from each other.

"I'm sorry that I'm not fucking perfect okay!, I'm fucking sorry that I was born alright!"

She yelled loudly tears of grief raining down her cheeks, her mind a whirlwind of negative thought and feelings that overwhelmed her to the brink.

"I'm fucking SORRY!"

She yelled sobbing as she threw another hit at him. The one lesson she had been taught the most in her life rearing it's ugly and diseased head back to her, the one thing she hated the most about her parents and her grandparents generation. Hold everything in and never let it out about how much it hurts inside. Drake threw himself at her again yelling in anger at her words.

"I never said that I wished you we're never born!"

He yelled as they both landed on top of each other the two of them throwing punches at one another. Sierra could already feel a blackeye forming on the right side of her face. Her lip busted open and blood dripped down onto her chin. She hissed as drake hit her again making her glasses fly off of her face. Her vision going blurry without her glasses and her brother became nothing more than a brown and blue blur to her eyes. She dodged him the best she could while he had pinned her down. She grew more and more furious at her brother as he threw another punch at her. Her teeth clacking together harshly as he did, she growled In pain as she kneed him in his lower region. He immediately seized where he was as his hands immediately went down to hold his injury as she scrambled away from him feeling the ground for her glasses the afternoon sunlight making the search easy for her as she found them reflecting the sunlight. She grabbed them and quickly put them on her face as she turned to her brother who currently laid on the ground curled into a ball pain visible on his face as he cried sobbing from it all. Sierra could feel guilt beginning to crawl into her even as the adrenaline in her began to subside she wobbled over to where drake laid sobbing loudly, and hissing occasionally in pain.

"Drake I-shit."

Sierra said her voice hoarse from all of the yelling she had done. Her anger dissipating quickly and being replaced with the now overwhelming feeling of guilt and regret.

'What did I do?!'

She asked herself as she knelt next to her brother and lifted him up with a surprising amount of strength into her lap.

"Drake? You alright?"

Her mind began to panic.

"Shit shit shit, drake I'm sorry that I kneed you in the nuts. Bro I'm sorry I shouldn't have fucking thrown the first hit at you."

She began to ramble her tears pouring down her face again.

"I just, fuck, i was just so pissed at you and i just couldn't hold it all in anymore."

Sierra said sighing deeply as she hugged her brother gently even as he grumbled at her moving him.

"Sis"

he gasped out his voice just as hoarse as he pushed against her chest.

"Please I'll fucking forgive you if you please get me some ice for my balls please."

He begged with honesty, a pain-filled grimace on his face. Sierra gasped as she let go of him and turned to the group where most of them were still watching the exchange with looks of concerned shock, while Samantha, Roderick ,Tim, And Marian looked at her with looks of understanding at what had happened.

"Can we get some ice please?"

Sierra asked guiltily as she looked to them.

By the time it was 3:47pm Sierra and drake were sitting beside each other in the RV. Bandages covered sierras knuckles where they had split open with small cuts and bruises from how hard Sierra had hit drake, her split lip had long since stopped bleeding and was now swollen from how hard drake had hit her. Her entire face had bruises and small cuts from how hard they had hit each other, her right eye closed up from the swelling of the soon to be black eye that drake had given her, she hissed as she carefully pressed the small ice pack that Samantha gave her against the swollen eye. Drake had surprisingly gotten away with less serious injuries than his sister. His hands were wrapped around the knuckles like sierras, a butterfly bandage helped to close a small cut that Sierra had given to him above his left eyebrow, his right eye had a small shiner that was already beginning to swell up painfully from the injury. His admittedly worst injury that he had sustained was covered by the medium sized ziplock bag that was full of frozen corn that Samantha had brought along with them so they could make it with a dinner for the camp out. Sierra chuckled at the bag when drake had been given it.

"guess we're having corn later tonight for dinner."

She said wincing as she pressed too hard against her black eye. Drake rolled his eyes at her comment a slight chuckle slipping from his lips.

"Jesus Christ what were we even fighting about anymore?, I can't even remember what I was so angry about anymore."

He asked looking down at the wooden floor of the RV. Sierra sighed at his question before she spoke.

"I believe that it started with me saying that I would go with Marian to prevent everyone I love and care about from getting hurt or"

Sierra paused swallowing shallowly before she continued.

"or something worse."

She finished with a sigh of regret.

"I just"

She started before stopping rubbing her less injured side of her face with her left hand as she seemed to grow frustrated with the situation.

"Why did you have to bring up dad?"

She asked desperation in her voice that was rough from all of the yelling she had done. Drake sighed beside her gently moving the bag of corn slightly over his injured lower half.

"I- I don't fucking know, I was worried about what I was going to have to tell him, don't you think that it'll be weird for Sam, Tim and Roderick to drop me off at home and you don't even come inside to say hi to him?"

He asked sitting up slightly to look at her his brown eyes filled with a rare concern that Sierra had hardly ever seen from him. It had been so long since she last saw a look like that on his face. The last time she could remember clearly seeing a look like that on him was back when he had still been living at there childhood home with there mom and stepdad. Before drake moved in with there dad, then again a lot had changed for the two of them after the divorce, even more so when her mother remarried Rodney their stepfather. Sierra has tried to give him a chance but had been nervous around him, he had intimidated her greatly. She always thought he looked angry at something all the time. She and drake had ended up losing a bit of themselves in the divorce. Sierra had begun developing a deep depression and self hate for herself that at the time didn't seem to be able to be broken or reversed in anyway shape or form. At least it had been like that until iris and Rosanna had become loud enough for her to hear them. She sighed at the memory and his words.

"I honestly think dad wouldn't give two shits if I came inside or not to say hi to him."

Her eyes welled up at her words, her throat constricting around the growing ball of emotion that was forming in her throat.

"I just, i just think that he doesn't even care about me anymore. I feel like he hasn't cared about what I do anymore for the longest time drake."

She said finishing her words with a cough as she tried to speak around her closed up throat. Her mind and heart hurting at the thought. Drake watched her carefully as he witnessed his sister break down crying. Guilt and pity filled him at hearing her words, words that he had felt from time to time himself.

"I"

He started his voice choking up as his eyes teared up.

"I feel that way too sometimes"

he finished looking at her. Sierra looked to him at his words and the sound of his tearful voice.

"Drake, bro you don't have to cry please, i"

she paused at her words.

'Your telling him them same shit that your parents would tell you.'

She realized with disgust.

"I- drake it's okay to feel that way, it's okay to cry sometimes."

She finished looking up at her brother and smiling reassuringly at him. He looked at her listening to her words before his face seemed to break down. His eyes filling with tears of regret and pain before he scooted closer to his sister and pulling her into a tight hug a sob slipping from his lips.

The two of them sat like that for what felt like years as Sierra listened to her brother cry his heart out for the first time since he moved away from there childhood home. She remained quiet as she hugged him back and smiling warmly while humming soothingly to him, like she always did back when they would be upset back when she was in middle school and him in elementary. The two of them wouldn't talk about what was hurting them because they both already knew. They had only wanted there family to be back to normal but they knew it wouldn't happen, not even if they begged for it.

'We need to be here for each other no matter what drake!'

Sierra could remember her telling a distraught drake on the floor of her bedroom, her door closed so that their mom and stepdad wouldn't hear them talking.

'No matter how bad it gets we have to always try to there for each other no matter how angry we get at each other.'

She had told him, tears of determination running down her face. They had overheard another fight between their mom and stepdad again. Sierra couldn't even remember what it may have been about but she only knew it had been upsetting. Drake had been holding onto Sierra crying into her chest his hands clutching tightly onto her pajama shirt. She had held him close to her as if to protect him from the world as best she could.

'We'll get a place of our own one day and get away from here!'

She had told him determined to keep her promise. Sierra knew all too well what happened after that, they both forgot about the promise. Life got in the way for both of them even when they were young, life got more and more bad at home for both of them until they both ended up damaged in different ways by the end of it. Both from holding in how they felt about there lives and how they felt about everything. Up until drake moved in with their dad, that being the catalyst for Sierra to fall even deeper into despair and her depression. She felt angry at herself for not going there with him when she had the chance, for not being there with him when she could have, at least that's what she told herself even as she kept an eye on their little half sister. Renya was now almost 11 years old and Sierra had made sure to keep an eye on her sister the best she could whenever she was with her. Helped her grow a love for video games and art, though she couldn't get behind the reason for her love of math she didn't dare judge her for it. She tried to be a good big sister and role model for her. Though her stepdad would say otherwise even as she would struggle to improve herself everyday in ways her family couldn't notice. She would slowly love small bits of herself every month, she loved her long hair and how much she loved to write and draw. She loved how she could notice small things that many others couldn't normally notice. She loved how the thrum and beat of music made her feel. She loved how she tried her best to keep her ties to her family close to her heart. She chose her family as best she could, she could have at any point in time cut away her ties to the parts of family she hated most but she didn't dare because she felt it was a wrong thing to do. To leave her worst parts of her family to the ever gaping maw of the endless void that she called life. She wouldn't forget her family in anyway shape or form. She hugged drake tighter with her one arm even as she struggled to keep the bag of ice pressed onto her blackeye. She wouldn't let go of her family again, she wouldn't leave her brother to the empty maw that surrounded them even now. The always hungry mouth that seemed to fill even the kindest of people with greed and hate that burned their hearts black and made them ice cold like a glacier. She wouldn't allow herself to.

Marian stood outside of the RV her ears keyed onto the sounds of Sierra and drake talking to one another. The sounds of tearful apologies twisted her heart with guilt. She watched as everyone around her were calmly talking about the fight, concerned about how the two were doing. Some even had tried to go inside the RV to check on them but every time without fail Samantha would ask them to leave them alone. Marian glanced to the shorter haired dirty blonde, the hard look of concern plastered on her face. Roderick standing beside her talking to her comfortingly. Marian felt more guilt fill her chest, making her feel heavy and cold. She pushed herself off of the RV and slowly made her way hesitantly towards the two humans. An apology already gracing the tip of her tongue.

"I'm sorr-"

"stop"

Samantha said quickly looking up at the daemon who had dropped most of her temporary disguise, her long curly black hair put into a braid that laid on her back. Her dimly glowing purple eyes filled with regret even as her goat like ears pulled back beside the sides of her head. Her teeth gently chewed at her lower lip at her command.

"There was nothing we could have done about them fighting, even if we would have liked that choice."

Samantha said as she stood up from the concrete bench and away from Roderick who watched the event concern filling his eyes.

"It was Sierra choice to want to go with you albeit she may have felt like she had no other clear choice, she still chose to go with you and I'm going to respect that fact even as I honestly want to drop everything here on earth and go with you for this little five year journey that your gonna take her on."

She said staring deeply into Marian's eyes, her brown green eyes burning with determination to get her point across.

"They needed to have that fight, it was already building up for years it needed to happen."

She said her face relaxing into one of calm determination. She sighed softly before she continued.

"even if it shouldn't have gone the way it had, but at least the two of them are talking it out."

She finished looking to the RV with a look of relief. Marian grew confused at her words.

"wait how did you know they were talking? You haven't even been close enough to hear them."

She asked her eyes creasing in confusion. Sam smiled a look of calm knowing on her face.

"it's what Sierra does usually after getting upset, she talks. She says what's on her mind and how she feels. It doesn't always happen after a fit of anger but when it's something difficult for her to say it does happen."

She said smiling sadly at her words and the truth behind them.

"Oh"

was all the daemon could say as she turned her ears towards the RV again, the only sounds she could seem to pick up at the moment were sounds of sobbing coming from drake and humming from Sierra, albeit muffled and quiet.

"You really know Sierra well if you knew that about her."

She said smiling sadly, a pang of jealousy filling her slightly. Samantha chuckled before placing her right hand onto Marian's right shoulder.

"It's only because Sierra talks the most about how she feels to me, I know she holds her feelings inside a lot even if you don't think so with how much she wears her heart on her sleeve."

Sam shook her head as she spoke.

"But if you think what she shows you upfront is how she really feels than your dumb for believing that act of hers."

She said as she slid her hand off of the daemon's shoulder. Marian frowning sadly at her words her eyes creasing as she though about the looks of barely concealed sadness that showed itself in sierras bright blue green hazel eyes that she always seemed to feel herself getting lost in. How she always seemed to make herself seem happy and upbeat as if her life depended on it. As if she didn't smile she would be lost in someway.

"I"

Marian began looking up again into Samantha's eyes.

"I- guess I never really paid it that much mind"

she admitted regret filling her face. Samantha smiled softly at her as she spoke up again.

"It's alright if you didn't notice it, but I'm only telling you what to keep an eye on when you and Sierra are on connection."

She said as her smile grew gentle.

"Take care of her please, make sure she makes some friends over there or else she'll go crazy over there."

Marian gave her a confused look opening her mouth to speak but Sam stopped her raising her right hand up.

"Sierra needs friends, plain and simple. She's social as anyone like her can be, but that doesn't mean she likes to be around people all of the time. She loves being by herself just as much as she does being around others. Just keep that in mind when you two go."

Marian nodding in understanding as she took down mental notes.

"Is there anything else I should know?"

She asked looking concerned and lost. Samantha smiled wider at the daemon's question.

"Yeah there's quite a bit more for you to know."

She said nodding her head as she put her hands into her pockets and began telling Marian the list of things she knew Sierra would want most while on connection.

"Is there anything else?"

Marian asked looking a little underwhelmed at the list that Samantha gave her. Sam laughed at the others words before she spoke her voice going dead serious, eyes going steel cold as she spoke.

"Yeah just one last thing, don't let Sierra get hurt you hear me?"

She said her face cold and collected as she spoke.

"Don't lie to her, don't hold any important information that she needs to know from her. Don't let her get into anykind of life threatening situation or so help me."

Samantha took a step closer to the now frozen still daemon, her eyes seeming to grow dark as she spoke.

"When I find out that Sierra got hurt I will hunt you down and make you beg for forgiveness."

She hissed out her eyes narrowing as into Marian's warningly. Marian nodded quickly her ears pulling back against the sides of her face in fear at the human standing before her.

"She"

Sam said gesturing to the RV where Sierra and drake still sat inside talking.

"Is one of the most important people in my life that I would do anything for. I would kill for her if I had to."

She hissed again, Marian could feel her fight of flight responses kicking in and she wanted to run far away from the now terrifying human standing before her.

"The only reason I wouldn't do that to you however is because I know for a fact that she would be angry at me for hurting you without a good enough reason."

She said stepping back her body relaxing as she spoke.

"I'm just telling you this so you don't do anything dumb that you'll regret."

She said sitting back down onto the concrete bench Roderick sitting stiffly beside her. His eyes watching her nervously as she sat down and relaxed her body before she smiled again at Marian with a calm smile on her face. Marian could feel herself let out a breath that she hadn't known that she was holding.

"I , I won't I promise."

She said breathlessly as her body seemed to shake at the aftermath of her adrenaline rush that had come out of nowhere.

'What in God's is this woman?'

She thought to herself as she could feel her heart racing in her chest. Sam smiled at her calmly.

"good, now I wasn't saying that to scare you, I just wanted to get it across how important she is to me and to everyone here."

She said reassuringly gesturing to the other camp goers that were talking with each other. Marian nodded in understanding as she heard the sound of the RV's door opening.

"Speak of the devil, there she is."

Sam said smiling warmly as she looked to where Sierra stood walking with her brother, who was walking stiffly after the injury his lower half had gotten. Marian winced at his walk, unconsciously closing her legs close to each other at the idea of the pain he must have felt after the kneeing event. Sierra looked up to Where Samantha sat with Roderick and waved happily to the two of them and sending a bright smile there way even as she flinched at the still throbbing pain that rang through the right side of her face. She noticed Marian and she shot a smile to her as well, her eyes closing in joy even as her black eye throbbed in pain at the motion. All Marian could see in the human that moment was someone who seemed stronger than she had though before. Someone who had just simply went through a training scrap with her brother. A memory of when she had trained with a close friend of hers rang through her mind.

'——es if you can't handle the pain from a simple punch to the stomach than how are you goin to be able to lead those around you in times of crisis!?'

He had asked her even as she dry heaved on the padded floor of the training room. She gritted her teeth and struggled to heave herself off of the floor and onto her feet.

'I'll get used to it, just stop talking and get back to it you chatter mouth!'

She had yelled at him as she swayed as she stood eyeing him down. He may have been a foot shorter than her but that hadn't mattered when they trained. His hits were direct and true with their blows, even as she struggled to get a hit onto him.

'Pfft me a chatter mouth?, you and I both know I don't talk that much period.'

He had laughed at her as he dodged around her left hook.

'If I'm telling you this you know it's for a good reason then.'

He said jumping back as she ran at him, her head bowed down to him her horns ready to ram at him.

'Come on I've dealt with tougher species than you, just ask any troll or alternian'

he said as she threw a right hook at him, her teeth bared in frustration at his dodging.

'Psssh that's a load of cave rabbit shit and you know it.'

She told him a look of laughter on her face that was quickly broken as he swept his legs under her feet and caused her to fall onto her left arm hard. She had hissed as he took a few steps away from her again like he had when he had punched her in the gut. To give her a fair advantage when she was on the ground he had told her. Though she honestly just thought he was doing it to taunt her.

'You boreks Ass! I'm going to win this I swear.'

Ironically Marian hadn't won that scrap back then but she wasn't to surprised considering to had only been her second time training with someone. She sighed at the memory, a sense of longing filling her as she wished to go back to when it had been simpler for her. She quickly snapped out of her thoughts as Sierra made her way to her.

"Marian! What's up?"

She asked smiling at the daemon, her eyes immediately glancing at the others ears.

"Aww oh my goodness are those your real ears?! There so cute!"

She cooed immediately her eyes shining with a look of pure adoration at the daemon's ears. Marian folded her ears back at the compliment, her face flushing darkly at the attention she was getting.

"I -Uh t-thank you s-sierra."

She stuttered struggling to not stutter at her words.

"Your welcome!, they look so much like a goats ears!"

Sierra said in adoration of the others ears as they twitched at her words. Marian's blush darkened as the human continued to tell her compliments even as she felt the slight vibration coming from her left pocket. She stiffened up as she recognized the vibration pattern it was doing.

"Ah, excuse me for a moment Sierra I have to pick this up for a moment."

She said quickly, politely walking away from the human as she waved her goodbye and nodded in understanding at the other.

"Ah! Alright well you know where to look to talk to me."

She called out as Marian walked off towards the surrounding trees around the campsite. Sierra sighed softly lower her right hand as the black haired daemon disappeared into the trees. Samantha patted her back in reassuringly as she stood up from her seat.

"It's going to be alright hun, she just probably needs to talk to someone from her home so they don't know where she is. She did tell us that no one knew she was here doing this."

Sam said softly as Sierra leaned onto her chest, pushing up against her significant other's side. She sighed again before she spoke

"that's not what I'm nervous about."

She said looking at Sam's left arm that was wrapped comfortably around her waist as her right arm hung off of around her shoulders. She smiled softly in thought before she spoke up again.

"Sam I think I have feelings for her, I know that's weird but I just feel like I've known her all my life or something."

She said looking up into the other green brown eyes that looked down at her with a look of sad understanding that Sam always seemed to have whenever they talked about things like this. Sam sighed before she spoke her eyes creasing softly as she spoke softly to one of the most important people in her life.

"I have to admit it Sierra I've felt that too about her, she feels familiar even though I doubt we know her from here."

She stopped to gently press a soft kiss on top of sierras forehead, the touch causing sierra to tear up at the overwhelming feeling of love she felt towards her.

"Maybe we knew her from a different life, and maybe we all knew each other back then."

She said closing her eyes and pressing her forehead against sierras mindful of her fresh bruises that she had received from the fight earlier.

"But even if that's true if you feel like you might love her, I'm fine with you being with her too."

Sam said reassuringly as she pressed another soft kiss onto the bridge of sierras nose. Sierra sniffed at her girlfriends words, falling even deeper in love with her at the pure and honest support she was giving her about her possible feelings towards Marian.

"Thank you Sam. Messiahs have I told you how much I love you?"

She asked bringing her bandaged right hand up to Sam's face and rubbing her thumb lovingly across her left cheek. Sam smiled at her touch before chuckling softly and nodding her head as she spoke.

"You tell me and Roderick that all of the time hun."

She replied smiling down at her as Sierra's eyes shone with nothing but love warmth for her.

"Good cause I love you and him with all of my heart."

She said as she leaned up and kissed Sam onto her lips tears of love running lightly down her cheeks as she kissed one of the two people she loved with all of her heart.

Marian made her way close to where the still open portal that led back to connection was before she pulled out the flat palm sized light purple communicator that had been vibrating moments earlier.

"Shit shit shit, please pick up lunar, gods I'm sorry I didn't pick up earlier just please answer me this time."

She begged quietly as she let the rest of her disguise fall from her form and show her true form, her horns and bulldog teeth showing themselves as she pressed the small circular button that turned on the device and show the light see through holographic screen of her last few missed calls, most of them from a caller simply called 'my annoying brother'. She had missed five calls from him that day, she chewed at her lower lip as she quickly unlocked her holophone and tapped at her brothers contact. The low dull sound of her phone calling him rang in her ears like a panic inducing siren. After ten seconds we brother picked up.

"Now you decide to call me back."

Lunar's voice came on along with his face showing up on the screen. The image of his familiar Blue-gray henna painted face filling her screen, his glowing navy blue eyes looking at her in disappointment. He seemed to be in a dimly lit room of some kind that she didn't recognize as his room or his typical workspace.

'When your a scholar you never know where you might need to work, I guess.'

She thought as she cleared her throat and her voice rang clear without the false accent that she had been using to talk to everyone on earth.

"I apologize lunar I had been busy and wasn't able to answer your call earlier."

She said looking up at the holoscreen where her brother looked at her a look of confusion crossing his face as she spoke.

"Wait where are you?"

She stiffened at his question stammering slightly before she coughed again to clear her throat before she spoke again.

"I-i'm At sector five."

she said quickly as she stood up straighter, praying to the ancients that he wouldn't look closer at the trees around her.

'Sector five? Really? Sector five doesn't even have trees like these!'

She thought looking into her brothers steely eyes that seemed to look through her like she was nothing but a disturbance.

"Really? Sector five?"

He asked raising one of his henna painted eyebrows. She nodded at him hoping that he wouldn't be able to see through her lie. He shrugged after a moment than continued speaking.

"Alright if you say so, but why in ancients are you in sector five!? Zalgo has been throwing tantrum after damned tantrum at your disappearance! And I hate having to deal with his childish plans and revenge stories"

he groaned frustratedly at his words holding his face into his hands, his hands going through his curly short black hair and tugging gently at his two horns that curved upward to the sky. Marian grew fearful at the mention of her sector leader's name, her boss, the one who had forced her to come here out of fear to prevent his foolish plan to try overwhelming one of the three sector leaders of eight. She couldn't have just stood to the sidelines as her sector leader try to ignite a distrust between the two sectors all because of a grudge he had for one of the sector leader's there. She would have been allowing a war to be in the makings and she wouldn't dare allow something of that caliber to happen again.

"Solar! Sweet fae are you even listening to me?"

She snapped out of her thoughts to focus on her brother again and the dead name he had called her. She grimaced at the names use but didn't say anything about it otherwise, she knew all to well where that line of conversation would go and she was in no mood to argue with her brother. 

"Sorry I was just thinking about his plan is all, and I well I'm on vacation."

She said sheepishly focusing her eyes to the dimly lit room around her brothers robed form.

"W-where are you anyway?"

She asked raising an eyebrow at the sight of a mop or broom handle leaning up against the wall behind him. Lunar ignored her question in favor of focusing on her words prior.

"What the fuck do you mean your on vacation!?"

He hissed his lips pulling back as he spoke a growl of annoyance in his voice, and his decorated ears folding back as his face grew frustrated at her answer.

"Well I just was tired of hearing him going on and on about his dumb plan!, I've had to listen to his dumb and foolish idea for the past two years! You don't get to tell me that I'm not allowed to get at least a little tired of the subject!"

She hissed her lips pulling back in response to her brothers words, her ears going forward to fold out to make them appear bigger. It was a sign to back off of her about the topic, though she could see lunar frown at the motion he ignored it in favor of criticizing her again.

"Oh don't give me that excuse! If that's the case then I should have gotten a vacation from him five years ago long before you became a general!, I don't want to hear your whiny halfassed excuse about how tired his rants make you! You should be back here doing your job of babysitting his tantrum like rants!"

He raised his voice at her his eyes glowing fiercely as he spoke. They were both quiet for a tense moment before she sighed and relented. She knew all to well that he would never back down, he would only continue arguing about it as long as he could.

"Fine, I apologize for having left for a vacation, but my return will have to wait for a bit."

She said a thought coming to her that made her smile in her head.

"What! Why?"

He asked his frown growing more frustrated with her.

"I've already told the WR that I'll be going on a medically demanded month long vacation from work as I have recently gained a stress related illness."

She smiled coyly at him as she spoke her eye glowing vibrantly as she felt a bit of joy at her mischievous words. Lunar stammered at her response his ears going upright at the pure surprise that he felt.

"I -well- ugh! Fine but wrath so help me I will chew you out as soon as you get back here from your vacation."

He gritted a His teeth as he spoke. She smiled and began to reach for the halo screens hang-up button before lunar spoke again, his voice full of mischief as he spoke.

"Your not in sector five are you?"

He asked her. Marian froze in place at his words, she looked up at the screen and took in the sight of her twin brother who was most likely hiding in a janitors closet while making this call, who was giving her a blank stare and a glint of mischief in his eyes. She could feel sweat beading on her forehead as she struggled to remain quiet. She coughed before she spoke up

"of course I am, doesn't look like I am?"

She asked praying that he didn't have any knowledge of the sectors common fauna. He began to frown at her response

"no it doesn't, it doesn't look anything like sector five or any sector here on connection."

He said his ears twisting towards the door of the room he was in before he asked quietly in a hushed voice.

"Are you, where 'she' is?"

He asked his eyes steely and collected as he watched his screen with growing horror dawning on his face. She was so fucked, so very much fucked.

"What!"

She said loudly before calming down and speaking quieter.

"i am not on the same planet as her I'm in sector five and that is final lunar."

She hissed her ears folding back in fear at his next words that he might say.

"I don't believe you"

He said quietly his eyes widening in realization at his sisters true location.

"Are you insane?!"

He whispered harshly to her his hands clutching tightly at his communicator.

"If zalgo finds out that your trying to prevent his plan he'll hunt you down and have you killed you fool!"

He hissed out quietly as he grew paranoid of anyone over hearing him.

"Calm down!"

She hissed to him before whispering to him again.

"I'll be fine, and he won't find out about this, I just need you to play dumb till I get back home from my 'vacation' "

she said making quotation marks with her free hand as she tried to calm her brothers worries for her safety. Lunar shook his head before he eventually nodded in somber acceptance of the situation.

"Fine, alright I'll keep quiet about this but I'll just let you know now that if he finds out about this it wasn't me who said anything alright?"

He said as he looked around nervously before making a fist towards the holoscreen which Marian returned and the two pulled it away and gently tapped at each other's right horn before tapping there foreheads and sliding the fist down the bridge of their nose to their lips and pulling it away from their faces and back to the screens of their communicator's the two of them copying the others motions in near perfect sync. When they both dropped there fists to there side Marian sent lunar a small smile of thanks at his use of the promise hand motion that they had came up with when they were children and living in a world that saw them as nothing more but slaves.

"Guess I'll see you in a month then?"

He said giving her a halfhearted smile in return. She nodded her head at him as he sighed and spoke again.

"Alright I wish you the best of luck sis, don't get caught over there."

He said as he waved goodbye to her before her screen went blank the only thing left on her holoscreen was the background picture she had put on her holophone. A simple picture of the two of them smiling at the camera when she had taken the picture on there first day of work together. Him the scholar of sector seven and her the general of the same sector. They worked together liked they had back three hundred years ago, before the ancients had died, back when the new age of connection was beginning, back before solar had died in a cave after the last ancient had died. Marian stood in that spot for a while as she pushed away the painful memories and made her way back to the campsite determined to see this self given mission through to the end.

Sierra had ran to Marian as soon as she caught sight of her making her way out of the trees, the daemon's form only visible thanks to the campfire's glow, the light of the stars above them and the bright lights of the string lights that were hung around the roofs above each of the two concrete tables. The sky a darkening purple and pink sunset, Sierra smiled sheepishly as she stopped before the other.

"Hey"

The dirty blonde said cheerfully even as her face looked beaten and battered as it did she still looked happy and cheerful.

"Hey"

Marian said halfheartedly as she made her way to sit at the concrete table farthest away from the RV and the trees she had exited from. Sierra walked behind her, her face growing concern as she took note of the lack of excitement in the others greeting. She shook it off before she smiled widely again, her cheeks dusting with a soft blush of pink on them.

"How was your conversation with your friend?"

She asked as Marian sat down onto the bench of the table and faced the campfire that was well lit and had the rest of the party's patrons either standing or sitting around it. Some were laying down on their stomaches or backs of their tents floors and talking with one another. Drake was sitting between Tim and Nathan who were commenting on his and sierras fight from earlier which had quickly made the rounds with there group and everyone was just mostly grateful that the incident was in the past and that they had a new exciting topic to talk about as Sam stirred the corn that was in the cast iron pot that hung above the fire with the help of a metal pole that she had brought with them for the trip. Roderick was at one of the grills that was closer to the RV and flipping burgers while talking to Jade who sat at the table beside the grill. The table covered in a red and white checkered plastic tablecloth that they had brought for the trip as well. Bags of leftover chips and bags of hamburger buns laid on the table, along with a large stack of paper plates and cups full of plastic forks and knives. Sierra smiled at the scene a feeling a peace filling her being at the sound of cheerful chatter of her chosen friends and family talking among each other. It was sadly interrupted by Marian who sat beside Sierra watching the event with a look of guilt and regret.

"I'm sorry that I came to earth."

Her words were short and clipped as if she was struggling to hold back tears of regret. Sierra looked at the daemon shocked at the look of pure despair on her face.

"Hey"

Sierra started slowly reaching and arm to the other

"it's okay, you don't need to beat yourself up about it."

She said smiling warmly at her.

Marian's frown grew deeper as she spoke

"but if I hadn't come here you and your brother wouldn't have had your fight and your friends wouldn't be upset at your choice to come with me. I'm making ever-"

"don't you dare finish that thought Marian."

Sierra said placing her index finger pressing against the others lips to stop her words.

"That's not true, it was my choice to go with you. Just like it was my choice to bring you to the campsite yesterday. If there's anyone to blame it should be me but honestly I don't think that matters anymore."

She said pulling her hand away from Marian's face and into her lap.

"I mean we're going away in two days anyway right?"

She asked looking to the taller of the two. Marian nodded sheepishly while glancing away at hers words. They would be leaving in two days if everything went off without a hitch, Marian herself was still nervous about the fact that the strange men in black still hadn't even attempted to talk to her.

"Well then if we're going in two days why should we worry about who's fault it is when we could try to enjoy some time with one another while we can?"

Sierra said smiling warmly. Marian smiled sadly at her words before she brought up the fight again.

"But what about your fight with you brother from earlier?, aren't you upset at me for causing that?"

She asked worriedly. Sierra shrugged her smile softening at the words,

"I mean shit happens, there was no avoiding that fight with him. It was going to happen eventually anyway, I'm just glad me and him talked it out after."

She said her smile growing melancholic as she spoke before it grew happy again.

"Besides siblings fight sometimes y'know?"

She said giving Marian a small knowing smile that was filled with past regrets and the lessons she had learned from them. Marian watched the other with a look of surprise at her words before she shut her mouth and smiled thankfully at the other. For her words, for her choice, for her kindness that she had showed her and most importantly for the soothing affect her words had on her.

"Thank you Sierra."

She said smiling and leaning towards her and pulling her into a tight hug. Sierra was stiff at first but carefully wrapped her arms around the other and smiled softly as she spoke her eyes glancing to Samantha and Roderick who watched the exchange with looks of calm understanding. Sierra looked to the back of Marian's head and spoke, her voice filled with genuine love and care for her.

"Your welcome"


	9. Chapter 8: let's kill the night and party like it's the end of the world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sierra has another odd dream that's make's her wake up before everyone and she and Marian decide to go shopping for a bit to get supplies for when she goes to connection. After a brief interaction with the malicious men in black the two decide to leave the very next morning but not before having one last memorable party for everyone to enjoy.

The rest of the night after had been a nice and relaxing evening with everyone. Everyone had joked and talked with each other until one by one everyone went to bed until Sierra, Sam, Morgan and Marian were the only ones left awake. Sierra laid on the soft grass looking up at the night sky enjoying the great vastness of it all, Morgan sat a few feet from her his legs crossed over one another as he looked down at where the river was.

"Hey Sierra can we all go swimming tomorrow at the lake?"

He asked smiling softly at the idea of taking a dip in the lake. Sierra glanced to where Morgan sat and smiled at the suggestion.

"Yeah that sounds like a really nice idea fam."

She said as she looked back up at the night sky.

"Nice"

He said looking back down at his red 2ds that he had brought along with him for the camp out. The quiet sounds of the wilderness around them along with the sounds of Morgan playing his Pokémon ultra sun game rang in the night air quietly. Sierra smiled up at the night sky as she felt herself pleased with the events of the day, although she could have went without the fight she and her brother had she was happy with how well there conversation had went. She went through the events in her head as she finally agreed that today had been a fairly good one even with its low points. She was still here and surrounded by the people who she loved and cared about and that's what mattered to her.

'Are you sure you want to go with her kid?'

Iris's voice rang out in her mind, concern was clear in the demons voice. Sierra smiled calmly and nodded her head gently still looking up at the night sky as iris took in her answer. Iris was silent before Rosanna spoke up.

'iris and I were just worried about you is all dear, we didn't really have a lot of energy to talk after that fight you and your brother had after all.'

Her voice was motherly and calm as she spoke. Sierra felt relaxed and peaceful for the first time in a long time.

'yeah I'm fine, just a lil' tired after today is all.'

She told them as her eyelids began to grow heavy.

'I'll probably go to bed soon here anyway.'

She said smiling sleepily as she looked up and at the night sky. The sight of the small lights in the black night sky pleasant to her.

'Alright well iris and I are going to rest for a bit more, that fight of yours tired us out quite a bit.'

Rosanna said her and iris sending off feelings of exhaustion to their human host who sent back a quick

'sorry, and have a good rest guys. See y'all tomorrow morning.'

She told them as she could feel the two of them curling around each other and falling asleep. The sensation causing her eyelids to grow even heavier as she struggled to keep them open.

'Shit, gotta stay awake'

She thought sleepily as her eyes finally fell shut and she tiredly resigned to sleep.

'A little nap outside can't hurt for a bit.'

She thought as she fell asleep.

Marian stared at Samantha nervously as the two of them stood behind the RV and among the trees. Marian's real form revealed at the humans demand. She stood awkwardly as the other eyes her up and down before finally smiling softly at her. Marian gave her a confused look at the smile and thought about talking before Sam spoke.

"I can see what she sees in you."

The comment made the daemon freeze and look in even more confusion.

"Who sees what in me?"

She asked confused at her words. Sam gestured behind her where Morgan and sierra were probably still talking to one another.

"Sierra"

She said smiling warmly and shaking her head.

"Wait what?"

Marian spoke up surprise clear in her voice.

"what do you mean by that?"

Sam shook her head again before looking up into Marian's glowing purple eyes

"she loves you"

Marian could feel heat rushing to her face immediately at Sam's words along with complete surprise at the turn of events.

"What? A-are You sure I mean I haven't even known her for that long yet?"

She asked confused and shocked at the turn of events. Sam nodded her head at the question

"I'm completely sure, Sierra is not at all subtle when it comes to love. I know that from experience that's for sure."

She said smiling warmly as she thought about all of the times sierra would talk to her about everything and anything along with going out of her way to buy or make her gifts of all kinds no matter how difficult it may have been for her. Sierra was a helpless romantic who only seemed to ever fall in love with those she had the most trust for, people like Brenna who respectfully told her no and Sierra respected her wishes and turned around to instead focus on being the best friend she could whenever she could when life wasn't kicking her in the face. The long haired dirty blonde would remember things that the one she felt attracted to romantically liked, things like hobbies and favorite foods or colors. Just like how Sierra had remembered that Sam's favorite color was blue from how many times she had asked about the topic. Along with how she would pretty much go out of her way to make a makeshift date out of nowhere. Sam could remember how the other had invited her to her parents house and how she had made tea for them along with a small plate of egg-rolls. The woman was just a helpless romantic that could fall in love with several people at once but couldn't choose just one much to her dismay. Sam could remember how one day Sierra had called her after she had gotten out of school and had brought up to both her and Roderick about a new kind of relationship they could try. After that things could be rough at times but eventually had went smoothly after awhile, Much to the dirty blondes joy and relief. Sam snapped out of her thoughts as she spoke up again.

"Regardless Sierra trusts you, and that usually followed by her eventually pouring her heart to you. She does do that quite a bit just letting you know."

Sam said rubbing at the back of her neck sheepishly as she spoke.

"What should I do?"

Marian asked nervously her ear flattening beside the sides of her head. Sam shrugged before speaking.

"well that's your choice not mine. All I can ask is do you feel the same way for her that she does?"

She asked looking at the daemon who nibbled at her lower lip nervously.

"I-i don't know? Maybe? I really don't wanna say that the only reason I came here was to get her because that's not why I came back to earth."

She said rubbing at her face.

"I came here for several reasons. I mainly didn't want my sector leader going around guns blazing onto earth and kidnapping a human out of nowhere, let alone probably causing a panic as he does so. I came here because I wanted to prevent him from doing something he might regret all because he wanted to get back at an old friend of his. I did this to prevent a lot of things but one of the really small reasons may be for something selfish."

Marian said quietly her eyes looking down at the ground under her feet.

"My leader has for the last five years been spying on Sierra, and over those five years I fell in love with her as awful as that sounds."

Her face filled with guilt and a deep mournful regret.

"I loved how nice of person she was to everyone around her, even when she struggled to be nice when people were rude to her. I loved how she struggled to improve who she is today, how she would sing to herself when she was by herself."

She went on her face flushing even more as she poured her heart out before one of the people who Sierra was dating.

"I loved how she loved the both of you regardless of how different the two of you were from her"

Marian looked up at Sam her eyes filling with a look of longing.

"And I know just because I fell in love with her from my leader spying on her for a horrible plan of his doesn't mean I should have to get a chance with her, but if you and Roderick may please give me a chance to prove my worth to her."

She begged softly as she knelt down onto one knee and bowed her head low her right arm crossing her chest while her left rested onto her other leg.

"As sector seven's army general, may I ask for your permission to court your lover?"

She asked quietly. the kneeling form of Marian had caused Samantha to blink in shock and surprise at the motion and even more so at the asking of her permission. She was silent taking in the others previous words and her admittance to having fallen in love with Sierra albeit from a questionable position but at least she had the guts to admit it. She cleared her throat before she spoke softly.

"Marian look up at me"

Marian obeyed lookin up into Sam's eyes her purple eyes filled with a determination to keep Sierra safe and happy. Sam could feel her heart soften at the expression as she spoke.

"I'm okay with Sierra dating you alright, so is Roderick. The three of us talked about it earlier today while you were out talking to your friend and we all agreed that since you'll be with her for five years that the two of you might develop feelings for each other anyway so we told her it was okay with the two of us."

She finished smiling warmly at the daemon who smiled widely at her words tears welling up in her glowing eyes and her ears pressing against her head as she cried tears of relief and joy.

"Just know that me and him still want you to keep an eye on her Alright?"

Marian nodded as she rubbed at her eyes with the back of her right arm, the torrent of tears still pouring fourth regardless.

"Thank you so much, I promise you that I will do anything in my power that Sierra will be safe and happy during the next five years of her life on connection."

She swore as she stood up onto her legs tears still running down her face as she smiled gratefully at Samantha, who gave her a warm smile in return.

"Let's get started on turning off the lights and cleaning up everything alright?"

She suggested as she began to walk towards the front of the RV. Marian nodded and began to follow the human before briefly pausing and glancing around at the trees behind them. Paranoia filled her mind briefly as she thought she had seen a glimpse of something moving in the dark of the woods. She snapped out of her thoughts as Sam called to her, and she hesitated but quickly shook her worries away before calling to Samantha.

"on my way!"

And she walked to the front where the campsite was, unaware of the two large forms that watched her walk away from deep within the trees.

Sierra smiled widely as she flew through the same dream slay that she had flown through a night ago.

"Whooo!"

She cheered as she flew through one of the larger light purple cotton candy clouds, leaving a Sierra shaped hole in the clouds as she made her way to the other side of the cloud. She giggled as she shook off the large bits and pieces of the candy floss from her knee length dress, and her slightly curling hair of her dream form.

'This is amazing!'

She thought as she flapped her same lime green and yellow lunar moth wings from the dream before, and took higher into the dream's light blue sky. She usually didn't like her more recurring dreams but this one she could learn to get used to. She spun her form around in the air closing her wings tightly around her body before she allowed her form to began quickly falling to the forested ground below her. She screamed in ecstatic joy as she opened her wings wide open at the last moment and soared above the trees. The tips of her bare toes barely facing the tops of the trees leaves and branches as she flew above them. She looked down at the trees racing below her flying form a wide excited grin on her face as she clapped her wings again and took off again into the sky above her. Adrenaline filling her as she weaved in between the large and small Cotton candy pink, lilac purple and baby blue clouds around her. She laughed loudly as she did, the sound of her laughter sounding like birdsong as she did.

"Officially the best dream I've ever had in a hell of a long time."

She admitted to herself as she dove under a fairly large cloud that was a mix of pink, blue and purple. Swirls intermixed in the sugar smelling cloud making it look like a pastel work of art. Sierra giggles as she put her right hand into the cloud above her and watched in childlike wonder as the cloud parted around her hand like nothing she had ever seen before. She smiled at the soft airy feeling that surrounded her hand as she ran her hand through it. As she was about to pull her hand out of the cloud a small white hand like hers grabbed tightly around her wrist and yanked at it with a harsh tug. Sierra cried out in horror and shock as she pulled against the terrifyingly steel like grip of the hand, her large wings beating hard as she cried out again. Her cries sounding like shattering glass and the screeching of a chalkboard that someone ran their nails down. The hand's hold didn't lessen even as she struggled in the air like a trapped bird. She screamed out as the hand gave another hard tug back and sierras right arm was pulled into the cloud up to her elbow. Her heart beat hard against her chest, thumping hard against her ribs like a rabbits. Fear was filling her as she could feel another two hands grab onto her left legs bare ankle and a lock of her long hair. The hands yanked her forward and she screamed out as pain filled her body as her hair was pulled harshly. She felt as her body began to be slowly dragged into the large cloud, her wings still beating helplessly in an attempt to save her from whatever entity was pulling her in.

'Oh messiahs please I don't wanna die like an extra in 'the mist', please sweet mirth'

She prayed to her two messiahs as she was pulled into the cloud, a last shortly cut scream slipping from her lips as she was pulled in and the Cotton candy world of her dreamworld went silent.

Sierra screamed as she fell down into the hole below her and above her unable to stop her plummet even as he still attached wings flapped with all of there might against the wind rushing around her screaming form. Eventually she quieted her screams as minutes passed and the bottom of the hole didn't appear, eventually the area below her felt solid and firm like a floor or concrete. The air rushing past her disappeared and she was no longer falling but instead laying face down on a concrete floor that was painted like the bottom of a black never ending hole. She blinked quickly as she slowly pressed her hands underneath her body and pushed herself into a sitting position blinking owlishly at the strange event happening in front of her eyes. She rubbed at her eyes as she looked closer at the floor and saw the hundreds of small holes that were hidden by the floors picture.

"What the fuck?"

She said as she carefully felt one of the holes on the floor yanking her hand away when she felt the wet feeling of someone's tongue lick the tip of her index finger.

"Sweet messiahs What the hell is that?!"

She yelped as the sound of the laughter of at least a good dozen children cane from the floor underneath her. She quickly got to her feet and stepped away from the painted spot on the floor and looked around the strangely vast room around her. It was huge and the walls and ceiling seemed to tower above her small form.

"W-where am I?"

The she asked herself as the laughter from the children went quiet and the sound of someone walking behind her rang out. Sierra spun her eyes widening as she looked at the small bright blonde child standing before her. Sierra blinked rapidly in disbelief at what she was seeing, it was her. More accurately her when she was most likely still in first grade. The young version of her rocked back and forth on the balls of her bare feet and held her hands behind her back as she hummed the tune of the Addams family theme song to herself. Sierra was silent as this younger version of herself stared up at her with a wide smile full of warmth, her eyes that bright blue they used to be when she was that young before her hair had darkened and her eyes had changed color. Sierra opened her mouth to say anything that she could possibly think to say to this apparition standing before her that had now switched to humming the alphabet to herself. Her younger self spoke before her though.

"who are you?"

The same voice Sierra could vaguely remember herself using back when she had been that little, asked her as she stopped humming to herself and instead looked up at her confused face with a look of childish curiosity. Sierra stammered before she eventually spoke.

"Uh, I'm you? An older version of you? I? Uh where are we exactly?"

She asked the child version of herself that stopped rocking on her heels to instead look up at her with a look of sheer awe.

"Really!? Your future me? Are you here to give me advice like in back to the future?"

The child her asked bouncing up and down in place her look of awe growing as she spoke. Sierra chuckled at her younger selfs excitement and shook her head no a warm smile on her lips as she did.

"No I think this is more like a weird dream thing I guess little me."

She said kneeling in front of her younger self who nodded in approval at the answer.

"oh! I guess that makes sense, so kinda like those weird dreams I have about the future?"

She asked tilting her head to the side as she put her right hand to her chin and made a over exaggerated look of deep thought. The sight alone almost made Sierra laugh at her younger selfs actions.

"My dad says I have dreams like that because i have espn, though whenever I ask him about it my mom and him laugh about it for some reason."

The short haired younger blond said as she sat onto the concrete floor that was painted like grass. Sierra carefully sat down crossing her legs as her smaller self brought up the memory of her fathers little joke on her. She chuckled at the confused look on her younger self's face.

"It's cause espn is a sports channel."

She said chuckling good naturedly at her younger self's antics. The younger went wide eyed at the news, and she made a gesture of pretending to snap her fingers, as she spoke.

"I knew dad was up to something funny when he told me that!"

She said pouting slightly before she seemed to have an idea come to her mind.

"Oh! Miss big me can you play with me?, I tried playing with the other girl and big man over there but they didn't want to."

She said as she grabbed at her arm and tried to pull her up to her feet. Sierra frowned at her words as they sunk in.

'There's other people here?, but then where are the-'

Sierra thought beginning to ask herself as she looked behind where her younger self was pointing at. There was a small thin tan girl who seemed to be ten at most standing with a huge dark skinned beast of a man, both of them wearing clothes similar to Sierra's white knee length dress and her younger counterparts ankle length white nightgown.

The two stood up as they noticed them moving closer towards them. The tan girl was wearing a large white t-shirt that seemed three sizes to big for her and the man wore a pair of white shorts and a wife beater shirt. The man looked at the two of them confused at their sight of them, before he asked in a voice much gentler than what Sierra had been expecting to come from someone of his size.

"Who are you ma'am?, and pardon me if a may ask but do you know where we are?"

He asked carefully seemingly afraid of being met with disgust or hate. Sierra blinked at the sight of a man a good foot taller than her afraid of her. She's raised her hands up in a sign of peace as she spoke.

"Hey it's alright big guy, it's alright to ask a question. And the names Sierra, and I'm sadly just as lost as you bout where exactly 'here' is"

She said looking around at the walls of the giant room that they were in.

"I only remember that I was enjoying this really nice dream where I was flying and then I got pulled into one of the clouds. That's about all I know sadly."

She shrugged while smiling sheepishly. The tan girl with short curly black hair huffed at her words and turned away frowning.

"And you brought her with you?"

The ten year old huffed shooting a glare to the younger of the group that hid quickly behind Sierras legs a sniffle of sadness coming from her as she hid. Sierra looked worriedly at her younger self before she glared at the ruder of the small group.

"Hey what was that for? She hasn't done anything wrong for you to be treating her like that!"

Sierra said sternly to the ten year old who glared at her with a look of defiance. The taller man flinched away from the two as they began to glare at each other in a volatile standoff before the ten years old turned around and walked away from her with a huff her arms crossed over her flat chest.

"Whatever I don't care anymore, get me when you get some answers Michael."

She said as she sat on a small square piece of tan carpet that was a yard away from them. The tall man opened his mouth as he began to speak but instead shut it and shook his head in surrender.

"Alright Camilla."

He said resignation in his voice as he spoke. Sierra looked at the spectacle confused as she flapped her wings that were still on her back. An idea struck her as she quickly realized that she had wings still.

"Dang it!"

She shouted as she smacked her forehead at her forgetfulness and began to flap her wings and began to lift up off of the ground. Micheal and her younger self stepping away and watching her begin raising up into the air as she spoke.

"Uh so I guess it was nice talking to y'all but If you don't mind I'm going to just wake up from this dream now."

She said looking at the both of them as she spoke.

"And it was nice seeing you little me, thanks for reminding me about how I used to be when I was your age."

Sierra waved goodbye to the two of them as she began to fly higher up into the air and and listened to the sounds of her younger self and Michael wish her luck and waved her goodbye. Her younger self waving wildly while Michael waved relaxedly. Sierra could hear Marian's voice slightly as everything around her went white and she woke up.

"Hey, Sierra it's time to wake up now. You can't sleep out here like this dear."

Marian said gently as she carefully shook Sierra awake, the human sleepily opening her eyes and blinking up at her before she yawned loudly as she sat up.

"Hey Marian, what's"

another yawn interrupted her words.

"what's up?"

She asked looking up at the daemon standing above her. Marian shook her head laughing slightly as she offered a hand to Sierra to help pull her up to her feet.

"It's time to go inside the RV for the night, Morgan's already went to bed in his tent and Sam is getting dressed in the RV, she asked me to wake you up and get you inside."

She said smiling warmly at the human who took her offered hand and heaved herself up to her feet where she swayed slightly as she looked around the camp sleepily.

"Shit, how long was I asleep for?"

Sierra asked rubbing at her eyes and grateful that her glasses and her ring were still on her person.

'Thank the messiahs.'

She thought to herself as Marian chuckled at her words.

"You we're asleep for a good hour, it's 2:30 am right now."

She answered as she helped lead the sleepy human to the RV. Sierra smiled sleepily as she nuzzled up against Marian as they walked.

"Thanks fam, it's nice of you to wake me up."

She said tiredly as Marian looked away her cheeks flushed at the touch but it going unseen in the dark.

"N-no problem, I just didn't want you to be confused when you woke up in bed tomorrow morning and think we did something weird to you or something like that."

She said bashfully as she made her way to the rv's screen door. Sierra could see through the sleepy haze that dogged her mind the small light that glow from the room Sam and her had slept in the night before.

'Sam must be in there getting dressed for bed.'

She thought as she and Marian walked up the steps to the door and walked inside the RV. Sierra felt a pang of longing to go back outside, as she felt the way too chilly ac of the RV blowing around her.

"Cold"

she murmured sleepily while getting closer to Marian to get some kind of warmth. Marian stiffened at the contact but calmly wrapped her arms around Sierra to help warm her up.

"Yeah it is a bit cold but it's summer so it'll be hotter in the morning."

She said as she carefully led Sierra to the lit bedroom. The sliding door to it was wide open and revealing the closely packed bedroom inside it. Samantha was sitting on the bed her phone in her hands and reading something off of it.

'probably a story or something'

Sierra thought as Marian lifted her off of the ground and onto the bed. Sierra waking up immediately at the motion.

"Holy shit!"

She yelled wrapping her arms around the daemon's neck at the movement, surprise clear in her voice. Marian chuckled as she set Sierra down onto the bed the human eventually releasing her hold around the others neck. Sierra flushes at the sound of her chuckling, and lightly smacked at her shoulder as she pouted at the other.

"Stop that!, i just wasn't expecting you to do that you ass!"

She said a laugh mixed in her words as she spoke trying her hardest to look angry but failing miserably. Marian chuckled again at her antics as she spoke.

"you can't blame me, I just was trying to help you onto the bed cause you were so tired and all."

She explained as she stood upright and made her way out of the small bedroom waving goodbye to Samantha who was was chuckling at the events that had happened.

"Goodnight you two I'll see you tomorrow morning."

She said as she closed the sliding door behind her as she left. Sierra rolled her eyes but smiled good naturedly as she crawled into the blanket and curled up beside Sam who smiled at the touch.

"You two looked like you got along while I was napping tonight."

Sierra notes as she pulled her shirt off and leaving her in her sports bra she had been wearing that day. Sam nodded before she spoke.

"her and I talked for awhile as we cleaned up the camp is all."

She said sending a warm smile down at sierras now curled up form as a yawn slipped from her lips.

"That's nice, Imma go back to sleep hun, have a good night love."

She said as she pulled her glasses and ring off and placed it on her side of the bed away from where she laid along with her phone which she quickly plugged into the charger for the night.

"And make sure to not stay up all night hun, it's not good for you health you know."

Sierra said before giving the other a quick peck onto her left cheek and laying back in the bed the blanket curled around her. Sam smiled sadly at her comment but nodded in agreement and understanding. Sierra worried about her and Roderick's health constantly but never seemed to care much about her own. Sam watched as Sierra laid curled beside her, her hair a mess of tangles and a loose ponytail that the other must have forgotten to fix up before she had taken her nap outside. She would miss this, the long nights of enjoying Sierra and Roderick sleeping besides her. Of Sierra reminding her to sleep and to take care of herself. She would miss Sierra and the large presence she had in her life. Sierra was someone who had proven her worth time and time again, even if at times she felt weak and lower than dirt. Sierra's aura was a calm happy green to Sam's eyes as she looked back down at the story she had been reading moments before. She smiled and scooted closer to the love of her life and settled back into reading her story, her heart just taking in the peaceful atmosphere of her life with Sierra, Roderick and Tim that she had built for them. She smiled warmly at the thought as the night went on outside of there little piece of a happy ending .

Sierra was surprisingly enough the first to wake up that morning. She blinked as she awoke, her eyes not heavy or tired whatsoever as she looked around at the bedroom. Sam sat asleep beside her, her glasses still on her face and her phone still held loosely in her hands. Sierra chuckled to herself quietly as she carefully took sans glasses from her face and folded them before setting them onto the small bedside table that was on her side of the bed, quickly followed by her phone. Sierra carefully slipped out of the bed and put her glasses and ring back on as she went through her suitcase for her clothes and bathroom supplies she had brought along for the trip. She was quiet as she slipped into the bathroom and was quick to slip out of her old clothes and into the pleasantly warm water that poured out of the shower head. She was quick to finish her shower and work on her appearance for the day. She had even made sure to hang her swimsuit for later on the bathroom shower hanger. She quickly dried her hair with one of the two towels she had brought for their trip, she patted her face dry before she began brushing through her hair. She enjoyed the peaceful dead quiet that surrounded her in the early morning of the day. It was extremely rare for her to ever wake up before her alarm, even rarer for her to wake up before everyone. Though she wasn't complaining about it as she got dressed for the day and pulled out a small pack of five well loved face paint brushes and two nearly empty tubes of face paint. She traced over her face quickly to remind herself what her face paint looked like. She traced the heart shaped lips that would go over the middle of her lips before she gently went over the sides of her chins with a gently upward curl that stopped at the edge of her cheeks before sliding back down in a swooping angle making a curled triangle of sorts that would be on the lower sides of her cheeks. Her fingers went up to where her peach fuzz trail of her hair came up underneath her ears and made two half circles that were pressed close to one another. She carefully tapped three small dots underneath each half of her lips. The image of her face paint was drawing itself out for her in her mind as she went over the image of it that she had made sure to draw a picture of and taped to the inside of her mirthful axiom. She traced the large circles of light gray that would cover her eyes before she curled them down at the bottom of them and traced the small curl of gray that would come from her eye paint before she traced the small dime sized circles of gray on Both sides of her nose before she traced the three small gray dots that would go up the bridge of her nose and to her forehead. She finished it off with the three quick dots of gray that would go above her eyebrows. She smiled at herself in the mirror before she realized that something wasn't right with her appearance. Her black eyes or what should have been a black eye had shrunk down to the size of a small shiner that lied underneath the bottom of her right eye. She glanced down at her unbandaged hands, expecting to see several blue and purple bruises and small healing cuts lining her knuckles from where they had been before. Instead there were only faint healing green bruises and nearly healed cuts. She blinked owlishly at the sight of them before she began to inspect the rest of her body in search of any magically healed injury she had gotten the day before. She paused as she saw the small scrape that had been on her knees she had gotten when she and her brother had wrestled with each other during there fight were now nothing more than newly healed skin. She blinked in confusion at the sight but decided that maybe it had to have been Marian or something that had healed her. She was quick to paint on her face and pulled her hair into a ponytail and quickly left the RV, phone in her sweatpants pocket and her small blue shoulder purse sling over her shoulder. She sat at the grassy spot she and Morgan had been sitting at the bight before and looked over the large lake that was across from her. The campsite had a worn path in the grass that went downhill and lead to the lake for them to swim or go fishing if they wanted. Sierra smiled at the sight and the calm quiet sounds of the early dawn around her. Her phone had said that it was 5:45am, she was fairly surprised that she had woken up as early as she did but she wasn't going to complain about it as she took in the soft blue early morning light that surrounded the camp. The sight alone making it look even more peaceful to her as she sighed pleasantly as she watched the lakes surface. Her eyes lidded as she leaned her head on her knees as she took in the early morning. It was calm and quiet, that she was fine with. She knew all to well that eventually the quiet and feeling of being alone would bother her but at the moment she was fine with it, maybe she would be able to watch the sunrise.

'I bet it would look amazing here.'

She thought to herself as she watched the lake peacefully. Suddenly the sound of something being thrown into the water rang out. She looked down to the bottom of the path to see Marian throwing small rocks into the water in front of her. A look of deep thought on her face as she picked up a fist sized rock and hurled it into the lake a small grunt of exertion coming from her as the rock soar threw the air until it fell into the water about three or two yards from where Marian stood.

Sierra sat and watched the daemon curiously as she threw another rock and made a look of cheer as it went farther from where she stood. Sierra was quiet as she slowly began to make her way down the steep path downhill, careful to not trip over any rocks or her own feet as she felt the push of gravity forced her to speed up in her trek down before she forced herself to slow down. The barest glimpses of the sun were beginning to peak above the trees behind the lake and the area around them as Sierra finally made it to the bottom. Marian's ears were pointed forward as if to listen to the sound of the rocks hitting the lakes surface. Another rock hit the lake and Sierra took a few steps forward behind Marian. A mischievous smile growing onto her face as she began to think of a plan to surprise the daemon. Another loud splash and another few steps Sierra took, Marian's ears pivoted around suddenly turning to face where Sierra stood. Sierra froze in place her heart beating fast in her chest, her breath catching in her throat as she froze. She wouldn't let herself get caught by something so simple as making to much noise. She held her breath until her lungs were screaming as Marian's ears swiveled back to face the lake.

'Fuck goat ears, her ears are more like a dear's'

she thought to herself as she slowly let out a breath as Marian began to throw rocks across the lakes surface again. Sierra moved quickly as Marian began to turn to the left in search of more rocks to throw. her movements quick as a whip Sierra jumped at Marian causing the daemon to scream in surprise at the sudden appearance of the human. Sierra notes how deep Marian's scream was but she pushed it aside as she laughed hysterically at the face Marian had made. The daemon relaxed as she realized who it was that had surprised her.

"Sierra!"

She scolded the human lightheartedly as Sierra laughed harder at her look of fear and shock. A snort mixing in between her laughter, the snort alone almost made Marian break into laughter but she managed to hold her laughter in as Sierra wiped the tears of joy that had begun to well up as she coughed and heaved a sigh of content as she looked back up at the daemon a smile gracing her face as she did.

"Sorry for scaring you, I just thought it would have been fun."

Sierra said smiling at the other who rolled her eyes and chuckled at the other's impish actions before she sighed and smiled good naturedly before she spoke.

"Pfft yeah right dear"

she knelt down to the ground and picked up a few fist sized rocks as she continued speaking.

"Besides what are you doing up so early?"

She asked as she stood upright again and glancing at Sierra before asking another question

"and what's with the face paint?"

She raised an eyebrow as she questioned the human, who grew flustered and scratched at the back of her head. Her fairly long nails catching onto an old scab from previously scratching at her scalp, the itching caused by her psoriasis that she and her mother shared. Though her mother had it more on her body than her head.

She cleared her throat as Marian turned to face the lake again and began throwing the armful of rocks into the lake one by one.

"Oh my facepaint?, it's uh part of a religion I'm in."

Sierra finally answered looking away, praying to her two messiahs that Marian wouldn't judge her for it or something. That kind of anxiety in her always somewhat prevented her from talking about her messiahs to her friends and family. Though she was comfortable and proud of her faith she was still anxious and nervous about receiving any flack for it. Marian had stiffened up at the answer pausing in her throwing of the rocks. She glanced at Sierra who seemed to be looking around the area the two of them were standing at. She relaxed her body before she threw the rock that was still in her hand and watching as the rock soared across the lake before it hit the water with a loud splash. She was curious about what religion Sierra was in.

'there's no way that the faith is here too? Is there?'

She thought to herself as she opened her mouth and asked the human another question, curiosity in her voice as she spoke.

"Is your religion about the messiahs?"

Sierra has stiffened up at her words, as if she had told her that she had a secret second head. The look of disbelief on the humans painted face was obvious as she looked at her, eyes filled with surprise and confusion at her words.

"Wait what?, I mean yes it does but..."

Sierra trailed off the look of shock still on her painted face.

"How did you know about the messiahs?"

It was an honest question she asked, the space between her eyes creasing in confusion at the information. Marian smiled than shrugged before turning back to the lake and began throwing rocks into the lake again.

"We have the same faith back on connection, it's one of the largest religions we have there."

The daemon sighed her right hand rubbing at her face with the heel of her hand while she held one of the smaller palm sized rocks that were in her rapidly shrinking pile in her left arm. Sierra blinked at her words a bubble of excitement filled her as she realized what this meant.

"You mean the mirthful messiahs have a faith big enough to have there own church's?"

Sierra asked innocently a smile growing on her painted face. Marian pauses again before she nodded smiling at the happy tone in the humans voice.

"Yeah, the mirthful faith has been on connection for about almost four hundred years now, so they more than likely have a church in every town in all the sectors."

She said beginning to pull her right arm back to launch another rock across the lake before she was scared pant-less by the loud excited shrieking coming from Sierra.

"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Yes yes yes yes!!!"

Sierra was jumping up and down in pure joy at the news that Marian had divulged to her.

"Fuck yes!"

She yelled pumping her fists into the air a large beaming smile on her face that was so wide that Marian feared that Sierra had lost her mind at first form the information. Sierra spun in a circle, her arms spread out as she turned her head upward to the brightening sky happy filled cheers spilling from her lips as she spun before she stopped facing Marian and giving her a smile that was filled with relief and a thankful look before she grabbed her right hand, now empty of the rock it once held due to her dropping it from the sheer volume of Sierras excited shrieking.

"You have no idea how much that means to me Marian!, me and so many others of the faith have been unable to even have a real physical church that we could go to and enjoy a sermon. To have our faces painted on and enjoying each other's presence and words like other religions can!"

Sierra said smiling warmly her words excited and full of thanks for the others words.

"I don't have to worry about being seen as a freak, I don't have to worry about my family judging me for not being a Christian and wearing my face."

Tears of joy began to well up at the corners of her eyes. The makeup around her eyes becoming slightly smudged from the gentle patting she had done when she had cried her earlier tears of laughter. Marian watched as Sierra thanked her and told her about the fears she had felt about talking to others about her faith. How she felt alone and without those she felt a kinship to because they lived in places of the world that were far from her's.

"I only ever get to talk about the faith on discord and tumblr with other's of the faith. I always dreamed and hoped that maybe one day we could get a church for the faith built and we all would be able to go there and talk about the faith to our hearts content."

Sierra cried tears of joys as she spoke, her tears barely leaving streaks in her paint but still streaking it to some extent. Marian held the human close to her careful to not press her face against her shirt in the hopes of at least offering the human some kind of comfort while not messing her paint up. After a few minutes Sierra pulled back a watery smile on her face as she pulled her phone out and went to her camera and examined her paint.

"Shit, rage be with me I streaked my paint again."

Sierra groaned as she carefully began to fix the paint to the best of her abilities with the remaining paint that was on her face. Marian hesitated before she asked Sierra a look of nervous energy on her face as she spoke.

"Uh can I help you with your paint?, I just I mean I have some paint with me Incase you need some."

Sierra looked up at her words her right index finger underneath her eye where most of the paint had smeared. A small smile appeared on her lips at the others offer.

"Uh I mean if it's okay with you!, I don't want to mess with it if it's not okay with you or anything."

Marian stammered blushing darkly as she presented the two small tubes of light gray and white facepaint. The labels on the tubes were nothing like Sierra had ever seen, much less expected Marian to pull out of seemingly thin air. The tubes were clear the paint visible in them, the label on them in English and what seemed like two others languages underneath it. The small little colored picture of what seemed to be a troll straight out of the homestuck webcomic was on both tubes.

'Celtiss's mirthful faith facepaint.'

The label read in English followed by two small quotes that were on either sides of the tubes.

'Perfect for hobbies, the faith, and plain ol' clowning around!'

Sierra blinked owlishly at the tubes. Confusion filling her at the sight of what seemed to be alternian writing underneath each word, along with the picture of a smiling bronzeblood troll that had a painted face with a speckled pattern and stars on his cheeks, his candy corn colored horns curling back and wrapping together behind his head. His sign was visible on a small patch of purple fabric of his shirt. The brown shape of a his smiling face sign was visible to Sierra.

She blinked again before she took the offered tubes of paint slowly, her mind numb as she looked more closely at the tubes and the words on them. Marian had gone quiet at the lack of response from her and watched Sierra as she curiously looked at the tubes of paint. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as she brought the tubes close to her face before pulling them back and shrugging.

"Thanks Marian, I Uh have a quick question for you if you can please answer it."

Marian smiled at the thanks and nodded her head, gesturing to Sierra to continue.

"Why the fuck is there a troll oc on these tubes of facepaint?"

She asked her eyes filled with confusion as she began to apply some of the new paint onto her face. Marian blinked at sierras words

'what's an oc?'

She thought confused at the others words.

"Oh! Uh we had alternian trolls that live on connection, along with elves, trolls that are native to connection, humans, repsies, nagas, magi, ghosts and spirts of all kinds, mermaids, selkies, sirens, vampires"

"lemme just stop you there for a sec, you guys have mermaids there? And vampires?"

Marian blinked at the human who looked back at her with just as much confusion.

'I guess I didn't really explain too much about my home planet did I?'

She thought as she cleared her throat and began to speak again.

"Yes we do, and well the reason my planets called connection is one cause the ancients were rather lazy in there naming of our planet and two because it roughly describes our planet in a nutshell."

She paused letting Sierra who was now sitting atop one of the larger rocks that were lying on the shore of the lake, take in her words.

"Our planet for some unknown reason had hundreds of portals open up all over it that leads to thousands of worlds. Some lead to worlds that have fictional creatures that other worlds had written fairytales about and others..."

she paused a grimace forming on her face as she thought about the large vast number of terrifying monsters that lived in sector 8.

"Others well we're nothing more than nightmarish horror stories to some worlds. I believe a majority of the time those ones are called creepy internet stories on most worlds that interact with us on connection while the monsters themselves prefer to be called creepy pastas for whatever reason."

She explained a confused frown on her face. She never did quite understand why most of the inhabitants of sector 8 called themselves by that strange of a name.

"I'll never understand why they call themselves that neither do I wish to ask them. My sectors leader is even one of these creatures though he is far more eldritch than most of them."

She explained watching as Sierra grew more and more wide eyed at the news.

"If it's any consolation we have hundreds of native species that have come from alien planets in our solar system and ones native to our own!"

She smiled widely at Sierra who still looked on at her as she spoke her eyes wide with disbelief. A beat passed before Sierra spoke her voice wavering with shock and a dull tone to it.

"So, your world, your planet has hundreds of different species from possibly millions of different worlds and universes and your telling me trolls from a webcomic and characters and creatures from internet creepypasta stories live there?"

Marian nodded slowly confused as to wear the other was going with her line of thought.

"Yes?"

She said with a confused drawl, Sierra nodded calmly as if taking in the information in before she slowly stood up from the rock and before politely saying.

"can you excuse me for a moment hun?"

She asked before she walked quietly farther down the shoreline of the lake away from the lake and where Marian stood. Before she began to scream and shout loudly in what seemed to be excitement and confusion, her arms wildly flailing around her as she shouted before she seemed to calm herself down and made her way back to the same stone she had been sitting on prior, ignoring Marian's look of confusion and concern before she looked up her. Smiled warmly and said calmly

"that's cool"

Marian was at a loss of words.

'does every human act like this?'

She asked herself confused at sierras reaction.

'if they do I must be careful with how much information I tell them, I don't want to overwhelm anyone while I'm here.'

She thought as she stared on at Sierra confused and unaware of the fangirling moment the young woman had mere moments before.

Marian and Sierra day next to each other and watched as the sun rose. Mariana's spent the better part of an hour explaining more about her world to Sierra. Connection was as the daemon had put it a multi-world planet. Planets of all kinds had the temporary and sometimes even permanent portals that would open between the two. That's how Marian had been able to come to earth, through a portal that would close in three days from now. Sierra and her watched the sun, the clear sky growing orange and pink as it did. Before all to long the sun had risen and the sky around them was a soft yellow orange. The two were silent simply enjoying the view before Marian broke it with a question and a smile.

"You wanna go to the store for a bit?"

Sierra blinked, her dreamlike daze she had been in while watching the sunrise wearing off at the sound of Marian's question. She shrugged before she spoke.

"we can but I don't have a drivers license yet Fam, and I don't we should wake up any of the others just so they can drive us to a store. Besides what do we need to go to the store for?"

She asked in confusion at the others want to go to a store this early in the morning. Marian shrugged smiling again.

"we don't have to wake anyone up to drive us I can drive a car perfectly fine, I just wanted to let you get some things you might want to get before we leave for connection tomorrow."

She said looking at Sierra with a gentle and calming look. Sierra tried to ignore the fluttering in her chest that she got when she saw the look Marian gave her. If she hadn't been wearing her facepaint as she was, her blush would have been visible for sure.

"I-Uh, sure That does make some sense. Oh!"

Sierra gasped as she realized something.

"We can also grab some breakfast for everyone while we're there and be back before they wake up!"

She smiled warmly as she spoke. Marian smiled back and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah we can do that to."

The black haired daemon stood up and began to make her way up the path back to the camp smiling all the while.

"Well lets get going!"

She urged Sierra on as the other quickly went after her.

Sierra wrote a note for everyone and left one inside the RV and the other outside held down by a rock on one of the concrete tables. Careful to be quiet as she grabbed her things and went to Marian who stood by the dirt road that they would drive to the gate of the camp. Sierra blinked in confusion that Marian was standing away from the other cars that were parked and by herself for a moment, nothing in front of her than a car appeared out of thin air. As if it had been magically placed there. She held by a yell of confusion at the sudden appearance of the car but instead looked at Marian with shocked confusion.

"Okay so I was fine with you not explaining your magical disappearing wallet and the magical tubes of facepaint but this"

she gestured to the vehicle with a sweep of her right arm.

"This I can't let go unexplained"

she said dramatically, genuine frustration in her voice as Marian blinked owlishly before chuckling nervously her left hand going up to her hair and tugging on of the locks gently before dropping her hand and clearing her throat and speaking carefully.

"I guess I forgot that you guys don't have captholge cards here"

She said chuckling nervously again. Sierra blinked, sighed.

"ill be right back"

and headed back to the RV quickly the keys to the truck jangling in her left hand as she ran to the RV. Marian stood awkwardly beside her car and slowly made her way inside the vehicle and started the light blue gray car that her brother had gotten for her when she had started working in the capital of sector 7. Minutes later Sierra opened the passenger seat and sat down buckling herself and pulling the car door shut.

"So how long did you have this thing and decided to just now reveal it to me?"

Sierra asked with an impish smile. Marian laughed as she began to make her way down the road, the dashboard and steering wheel of her car lighting up with thin lines of lights that Lined around them with a gentle glow.

"It's fairly old but I've had it fixed up a bit a year ago so I believe that it's about."

Marian paused in thought as she drove closer to the gate and was let out by the young woman working the gate.

"It's about nearly fifteen years old now."

She said smiling as Sierra coughed at the answer the other gave her, eyes wide and shock filling them. before she narrowed her eyes and asked another question with a sly smirk.

"How many times have you actually driven this thing?"

Marian flushed at a loss for words at the question, eventually she coughed out an answer.

"I think I've honestly only driven this maybe twenty times In all the time I've had it."

She blushed as she looked away embarrassed at the small number of times she had used the gift her brother had gotten for her. Sierra rose an eyebrow before she spoke up again.

"is it cause were you live everything is really close by?"

Marian sighed in relief at her question and nodded quickly as she made her way onto the asphalt road and began to drive them to where she could remember the store called 'wall-mart' was. Sierra was quiet for a moment before she asked politely.

"got any music?"

Marian smiled nodding as she pressed a button where the CD player was in her car. A light cheery song began to play, drums and harps playing through the speakers.

'You left me in a heartbeat, even as I begged to to stay'

a woman's voice came through causing Marian to groan as if she had forgotten something.

"What?, what happened? Did you forgot something?"

Sierra asked looking up at the daemon who sighed exasperated as the song went on.

"It's nothing I just forgot what cd I had in is all and now that it's playing I just want to strangle my brother when I get back home."

The singer went on her voic sounding mournful and operatic almost.

'you tore my heartstrings, you tore them straight apart even as I cried your name.'

Marian groaned again at the lyrics as if the words were an annoyance to her. Sierra chuckled as she spoke.

"I don't think this song is that bad is it?"

She asked raising an eyebrow. Marian shook her head and rubbed her face quickly with her left hand as she kept her eyes on the road.

"It's not that the songs bad or anything, it's just for some reason my brother loves this song so much that he had played it nonstop at the place we work at for five days straight."

Sierra laughed at the mention of the length of time.

"it couldn't have been that long, it could have been for a day or two but not a whole five days?"

She asked chuckling at the impossibility of that kind of thing happening. The dead eyed look on Marian's face as she wordlessly ejected the cd and quickly put in a different disk that had the printed image of a forest filled with small fairy like creatures and what may have been nymphs into the player. Soft and soothing sounds of nature filled the car, and Marian released a sigh of relief at the music.

"Oh thank the gods, he didn't switch that disk."

She breathed out a look of immense relief visible on her face. Sierra laughed loudly at the expression and shook her head at the ridiculousness of it all.

"Hey I tell you what, Walmart has tons of cds of all kinds of music there so why don't we get a whole bunch of cds and play em on repeat to get some payback from your brother's little stunt?"

Sierra suggested smiling mischievously at the other. Marian smiled widely at the idea.

"have I ever told you that your a gift? Cause that idea is the best thing ever."

Marian and Sierra laughed loudly as they spoke about the plans to mess with Marian's brother. A feeling of content filling Sierra as she began to actually look forward to going to connection. The two went on there way to the store unaware of the black car driving behind them at a distance and seeming to follow them as they made there way to the stores parking lot.

Sierra And Marian joked with one another good naturedly as they picked up item after item of what Sierra felt she would miss during the five years she would be gone from the planet. Stacks of books, DVD's and a surprising amount of cds made there way into there cart. Along with bags and boxes of broad games, snacks and chips that were common on earth and from what Marian explained to Sierra not found on connection. Fleece blankets and sequined pillows joined the growing pile of items in the cart until Marian had to grab another cart to hold the growing amount of items. Sierra asked her halfway through the store about how exactly they would manage to pay for all of this. Marian's only response was that she had more than enough to pay for it all and gave the human a sly wink. Sierra gawked at her answer and struggled to enjoy picking the items that she wanted to bring with her genuinely. She had grabbed a few Pokemon figures and dolls of all kinds as she and Marian raced down the mostly empty aisles of Walmart. Only ever seeing two of three customers in every other aisle. Sierra laughed loudly in joy as she rode her weighted cart down the crafts aisle before planting her feet down onto the linoleum floor and looking through the large stock of yarn that the crafts aisle had. Her mind going immediately to Samantha and how she would miss her while she was gone. Sierra grabbed four rolls of soft colored yarn and gently placed them into her cart. A sad smile showing on her face as her mind went to Samantha smiling face. Marian called out to her as she made her way to where Sierra stood looking down at the yarn small tears of what seemed like anxious sadness welled up in the corners of her eyes as she looked up at Marian her sad smile still on her face.

"Oh hey Marian, sorry I didn't say anything I was just thinking about Sam is all."

She said blinking away her small tears and began pushing her cart again.

"I'm fine let's just get this done before everyone at the camp wake up!"

She called to her forcing a smile onto her face as she pushed her cart.

'Sam will be fine she'll have Ricardio and Tim and they'll look out for her. She'll be fine stop getting emotional about this sierra'

she told herself as she grabbed a couple of sewing kits along with some painting supplies. Unaware of Marian standing behind her with a look of concern on her face. Marian sighed and carefully placed her hand onto Sierra left shoulder.

"Sierra, it's okay if your worried for everyone when your gone. It's a normal thing to feel when your going somewhere far away."

She said soothingly to the other who looked down at the floor her expressing not visible to the daemon as she spoke.

"I promise you that as soon as you can I'll tell you when you can talk to them when our planets have a slight connection with each other. I promise to you that Sam and all of your friends and family will be okay while your gone."

She said trying her best to reassure the dirty haired blond. Sierra sniffed back tears that had begun to well up at the words Marian spoke. She was quiet for a moment before she quietly spoke up.

"thank you"

"huh?"

"Thank you, for- for comforting me. I-I needed that"

Sierra turned her head to look at Marian smiling warmly at her even as a few tears made their way down her cheeks. Marian smiled warmly at her, her chest warm as she carefully hugged Sierra feeling as if maybe this whole situation would go off without a hitch. Two black suites men watched the two women hold onto each other for comfort before they separated and began to push their two carts again, making their way down each aisle. The larger of the two spoke quietly to the other.

"targets moving farther down, should we keep trailing them or do you have a different plan in mind alpha?"

The smaller man nodded robotically before speaking, his voice was cold and empty as he if he had no emotions whatsoever.

"We'll trail the two of them until they split up, miss Mitchell has a history of kidney and bladder issues so she will eventually leave to go to the restroom, when that happens delta"

He glanced up at his partner his eyes black and abysmal.

"You will trail the subject make her know that we are aware of her, do not make contact. I repeat"

the man called alpha looked at the tallers face his eyes devoid of any care or concern for the other as if he had no idea of the concept of human emotion. His eyes were instead filled with a cold and everburning hate that filled him as he spoke.

"Do not make contact with her, do you understand delta?"

His voice hadn't risen or lowered in volume but some underlying current of cold unfeeling hatred was intertwined in his words. The taller 'delta' nodded in understanding, his face blank and clear of any emotion. If he had felt any fear or anxiety his body and face didn't show it.

Half an hour later Sierra stopped pushing her cart from where she and Marian had been standing in the electronics aisle again. Sierra having decided to show the daemon the video game consoles and the games that were common on earth.

"Sierra?"

Marian raised an eyebrow in confusion at sierras sudden stillness. Sierra smiled nervously before she spoke.

"can you wait here for a bit?, I gotta go to the bathroom real quick. I'll be right back fam!"

The dirty blonde said as she began to walk away backwards towards the front of the store. Marian waved her away and called after her.

"Alright I'll be here looks at the games then!"

Marian sighed to herself before chuckling to herself at the humans antics.

"She is definitely an odd one that's for sure, not that it's bad or anything. Just a little surprising is all."

Mark said to herself quietly as she looked at the puzzle game Sierra had been showing her that was called 'professor Layton' Sierra had been telling her that the game was part of a series of other games, and even had a crossover games with another series called 'Phoenix Wright'. Marian did have to admit she was rather amazed by the sheer amount of video game knowledge that Sierra seemed to possess. She had given enough information that made her want to buy a game from both series. She turned to call for an employee when she noticed the flash of black that was a yard from her. She froze and slowly looked back at where she had seen the spot of black in the edges of her vision. She went cold at the sight of the large burly white man that was dressed in nothing but a black suit and a black hat on his head. He felt so wrong and out of place here, her fight or flight instincts kicked started when he smiled at her. Her body began to break into a cold sweat at the cold and robotic smile he no it had given her. No living thing could ever be capable of giving a smile that cold and unfeeling.

"Miss? Miss you called me?"

She snapped her head away from the man who stood still and began to look at the items for sale near him. The image of a creature like him holding a cutesy looking usb charger gave her chills and made her adrenaline skyrocket.

"Miss are you all right?, you look really pale ma'am."

The voice of a concerned young short haired dark skinned man broke through her panicked thoughts. She stuttered before she coughed to clear her throat of the ball of worry that was building.

"Uh- s-Sorry about that I guess I'm just a little tired is all. A friend of mine is moving to a new house of hers so I'm helping her get some things for her new home."

She lied struggling to speak calmly.

'How can he not see that monster over there?'

She thought screaming in her mind. The young man nodded his head in understanding a calm smile on his face as he did.

"I know how that is, I recently moved too a new place too. Maybe I can give some tips to you for your friend?"

He suggested warmly a good natured smiled on his face. Marian forced herself to calm down and smiled warily at the young man.

"Thank you but my friend should be on her way back soon, she just left to go to the bathroom."

She said pointing to the front and smiling warmly at the man.

"That's cool! You and her must be really great friends if your helping her out with all of this shopping."

He said his smile still holding that welcoming aura that it had since first talking to her.

"Yeah we are, Uh actually I called you over here because I'd like to get a few things in the video games area."

She said her nerves sparking again in anxious fear when she glanced at the black suites man again. He was looking at her that cruel unfeeling smile still on his face like before.

"Oh! That's cool what games you getting?"

He asked as he nonchalantly placed his arm against the glass next to where she stood. Her attention snapped back to him her eyes creasing in confusion at the tone in his voice. It was strange and suggestive his words, as if he was trying to... she yelled suddenly.

"I'm sorry sir but I have a boyfriend so please if you may can you please just help me get my games and some game systems I'll be fine and my friend and me will be getting on our way!"

Her voice had grown slightly hysterical at the end of her words. She felt so uncomfortable with how he was eyeing her up and down like he was.

'If he only knew what was really down there, I bet he would back off then.'

She thought to herself as the man backed away his hands held up in front of himself.

"Hey ma'am I wasn't trying to do anything I was just trying to get to the lock on the door."

He said his eyes full of confusion and sudden surprise.

"Besides I'm not into girls I honestly was just trying to make small talk here"

He went looking away his face embarrassed and full of confusion. She blinked, but she swore that he had, she glanced down beside her to see a small shiny lock that was a good foot away from her body, And around the same spot that he had placed his hand. Guilt filled her, she went through her memories of the man's face. He hadn't been looking at her up and down, he looked honestly curious and polite. She could feel her face flushing at the mistake she had made.

"Shit, I Uh I'm sorry about that I guess I'm just a little bit jumpy right now."

She said rubbing at her face with her left hand. He sighed softly before nodding in understanding.

"Yeah I know that feeling."

he began again this time kneeling down to the lock and being careful to not get to close to her as he opened the lock and stood back up.

"After you , pick out what ever game your getting."

He said gesturing to the games. Marian smiled sheepishly before grabbing a hold of the games she had in mind.

When Sierra was exiting the restrooms she was vaguely aware of the feeling that someone was looking at her. She knew that she might have looked a bit odd with her facepaint but she was going to be fine.

'It's fine, what's wrong with wearing a little facepaint now and then in public?'

She told herself as she made her way through the small crowd that was in the front of the store. She glanced down at her phone and at the cute home screen she had set on her phone of Gamzee markara from homestuck. The image was a picture that she had saved from a favorite tumblr artist of hers artwork. Clock-heart was definitely a favorite artist of hers that was for sure. Her art just looked so cute and stylized. The time showed above the picture the dark 6:35am was stark against the picture. A single missed text was in her notifications, a text from Sam.

💜My Honeybun💜

•hey hun, I read you note and I'm just texting you to see if your Alright

Sierra smiled at the text warmth filling her chest at the concern Sam showed her. Sierra sent her a quick text back, while the feeling of being watched seemed to grow. The hair on the back of her neck and arms standing up straight as it did.

•Hey hun!, me and Marian are doing alright, we just went to Walmart for a bit. We'll be bringing back some breakfast when we come back!

She sent her text as she turned her phone off and pocketed it back into her pocket, walking quickly back to the electronics aisle. She felt so unsafe at the moment, someone or something was following her. At least she thought so.

'Kid, look behind you just in case.'

Iris asked her, her tone calm as her voice rang out in sierras mind. She agreed and did as iris asked, she shot a glance over her left shoulder, her breath catching in her throat as she saw him. The man was tall and menacing, he was dressed in a black suit and his bald head covered with a black hat. He felt so wrong, the feeling of genuine fear bubbled up in Sierra. She forced herself to act as if she hadn't seen the man so to not alert him to her fear. Her heart beat fast and quick as she quicker her pace, her ears picking up the sound of the man's footsteps easily matching with hers as if he was used to doing so. Her body felt cold and numb as she broke into a run, taking a sharp right away from the straight path she was taking to get to Marian. The man followed suit his dress shoes tapping against the shining white linoleum of the stores floor. Sierra made random twists and turns quickly and expertly handing some of the controls to iris and Rosanna who took a hold of them. She dodged and bent around other customers that she ran past. Her body bending around them in the strange ways that it always did when iris and Rosanna moved her body. Her movements became quick and organized as she ran toward an employee that was pushing a cart of boxes that they were going to put away. She sped up her pace watching as the man froze in place a look of horror and shock on his face as Sierra leaped over his cart, her body twisting in the air as she jumped over the cart of boxes. She caught sight of the black suited man who as he crashed into the cart, his unfeeling face showed genuine surprise and anger as he hit the cart hard causing the cart and him to fall to the ground. Sierra didn't stop to wait for the man before she ran again, not stopping in the slightest as she went to where she prayed Marian still was waiting for her.

'Holy shit!, I think that leap was one for the record books kid! Don't you think Rosie?'

Iris whooped loudly in Sierra's head. Making Sierra smile widely as she ran, her legs burning and aching as she ran quickly making her way to the electronics area. Her legs still thrummed from the impact they had made when she had jumped, the tips of her fingers buzzing from where she had pushed herself up into the air with the boxes. She felt energized and ready to leave with what they had gotten from the store already.

'Indeed it certainly was a great example of what our and sierras teamwork can accomplish nowadays.'

Rosanna said excitement and pride in her voice as she spoke in the depths of sierras mind.

'Yeah, that was pretty cool there!'

She told the two as she began to slow her pace as she caught sight of Marian who was standing next to three carts filled to the brim with bagged items and boxes of game systems.

"Marian!, hey sorry if I took awhile something came up when I was making my way back to you."

Sierra said breathlessly, the adrenaline in her already fading away rabidly and leaving only a deep aching tiredness that consumed her. Marian nodded her face tight and concerned before she leant down to her ear and spoke softly.

"I've already paid for our items and we can leave now if you are more than ready to"

She said her eyes shooting a quick glance to the side of where they stood. Sierra spared a glance to where Marian was looking and felt her heart being squeezed by the ice cold feeling of fear.

'Shit'

She looked in horror at the tall large buff man that was nearly an exact copy of the man who had be following her before earlier.

"Marian"

She began quietly, her eyes burning suddenly as her fear became overcomes with anger and a seething hate instead.

"Go captholge our stuff while I go deal with this for a moment."

Sierra said her eyes looking intensely at the man who looked up and noticed her stare and gave her a blank expression. He was cold and unfeeling just like the man before. Marian stood confused and shocked as Sierra began to walk towards the man not a single ounce of fear visible in her body as she did so.

Sierra could only feel anger at the man, anger that quickly changed into a strange calm as she stopped beside the man and began to act interested in the phone cases that were beside him. The man going still beside her as she did so.

"excuse me I need to look at those phone cars beside you."

She said politely as she pointed at the animal themes phone cases that he was standing in front of. He backed away silently his body still stiff and cold as he did so.

"Thank you!, I've been looking for a phone case like this forever!"

She said warmly turning to smile warmly at the man, who began to look a little bit uncomfortable at the warm words and reaction he was getting from her. Sierra quickly grabbed five cases that she liked most quickly making sure that they would fit her phone before she quickly made her way to the now empty carts that stood beside Marian who looked at her relief and confusion on her face.

"What were you thinking!"

The daemon whispered harshly to her as Sierra places the five phone cases in a cart.

"I wasn't, I just wanted to prove a point to him."

She said quietly a calm smile on her face.

"If we act scared because of them were giving them what they want from us."

She said quietly her smile growing sly.

"They want us to be scared of them, but if we do the opposite then it'll bother them more than us."

She explained as she began pushing two of the carts with her as she began to make her way to the clothes aisle.

"Just follow my lead okay?"

She asked calmly as Marian hesitantly followed after her, pushing the last cart with her.

It was 7:05am they were leaving Walmart, bags of warm McDonald's bags and cold drinks in there arms and hands as they quickly made there way to Marian's car all of the items they had bought were weighing heavy in Marian's captholge cards. Something she explained to Sierra when they were inside. Her cards were able to hold a large amount indefinitely, and would be in the same state they were whenever they were taken out of the cards. Sierra looked behind them, keeping an eye out for the two black suited men, they had lost sight of them when they had gotten into one of the more busy parts of the store.

"Come on let's hurry up before they figure out we're outside."

Sierra urged Marian as the two of them quickened their pace to the car. when they got in Marian was the first to speak.

"hand me the food I'll just captholge it and get a move on."

Her words were short and clipped as she spoke. Sierra was quick as she handed the bags of food to the other while she kept an eye out on the stores doors. Her eyes widened as the forms of the two men appeared amid the crowd in the front of the store.

"Shit!, Marian hun, there out please hurry."

Sierra said her voice panicked and tight with fear. She felt terrified and fearful for their lives, this wasn't normal fear that she felt. This was something primal and animalistic something She only ever felt something similar to it when she was around somewhere that had a lot of ghosts or spirits of some kind. But this? This was something stronger than that feeling, this was genuine fear for her safety and her life. She shook as Marian pressed down hard on the gas of her car and sped out of the parking lot far faster than what was safe. The sound of screeching from the cars rubber tires rang in her ears as Marian quickly pressed at a couple of buttons on her dashboard. A few quiet beeps sounded and the windows of the car shimmered slightly before sierras eyes. Her breath catching as the car drove onto the highway, cars going towards them but Marian didn't stop she kept driving as if they weren't there. Sierra screamed in fear as they drove through the car. Sierra blinked in shock as she didn't feel anykind of impact, only a strange tingling as they drove through car after car like they were a ghost. Marian had a look of extreme concentration on her face as she drove the car. Before she finally slowed down enough that she was safely behind another car and no other cars were behind her yet. The daemon pressed the same buttons she had before and the windows shone again and the tingling feeling went away from sierras body as she blinked wide eyed at the whole event. She was silent for a few moments before she spoke.

"What. The. Fuck was that?"

She asked quietly her voice rising slightly her eyes still wide and full of shock. Marian coughed slightly as if to clear her throat.

"that was something I recently got installed onto my car"

Sierra nodded her voice quiet as she spoke.

"I got that but that not what I was fucking asking about, I was asking about us phasing through the other cars on the road like we were fucking ghosts or some shit!"

Sierra shrieked struggling to stay calm her hands gripping at some of her long locks of hair. Eyes wide and her breathing becoming erratic. Marian watched the human warily, concern playing on her face as she carefully and slowly uncaptholged one of the bags of cds that they had gotten, and while keeping her eyes on the road handed the bag to Sierra who took it with a look of confused panic.

"Breathe Sierra, we're fine. I'm sorry I scared you like that back there but please calm down. Here can you please find a cd you like so we can listen to some music that you like?"

She asked her voice calm and collected as she spared a glance at Sierra who looked back at her with a look of confusion before she hesitantly began to go through the bag of cd's. Her mind focusing entirely on the task as she began to take deep breaths in and out. Her body relaxing as she did so, her senses were alight and keyed into everything around her. Her body numb and weak as the adrenaline in her body washed away only leaving her body aching and her mind numb.

"Found one."

She said after a moment her voice quiet as she pushed the eject button and took the last cd and put it into the sia cd case that she had grabbed from the bag. She was quick to push the cd into the player and waited as the song 'chandelier' began to play. Marian smiled sadly at the song, before she spoke up.

"Sorry,"

a short pause hung in the air.

"again, for scaring you like that. I just wanted us to get away from those two as quick as possible not give you a heart attack."

She said sighing and looking away guilt clear on her face. Sierra sighed rubbing at her eyes careful to not smudge her makeup.

"I-it's fine I just, give me a warning in advance there dude."

She said leaning her body back into her seat. Marian smiled before nodding in agreement at her words.

"I'll make sure to do so next time I decide to do something like that again."

She said smiling softly.

"So what in sweet mirth was that anyway?"

Sierra asked again her face full of a look of genuine curiosity at the event that had transpired before. Marian shrugged before she spoke.

"it's a common piece of technology that is mostly applied to cars and other vehicles of the mechanical type. It's to help prevent accidents that can be avoided."

She explained causally gesturing to the road as she spoke.

"I think it works because of a extremely high vibration that affects your atoms at a molecular level."

She paused to think about it before shaking her head,

"at least that's what I can remember vaguely when the tech was new back home. It's very popular with the science community that's for sure."

She said chuckling good heartily.

"Can't say I can completely understand every single piece of tech that's on connection but I can at least understand vaguely what most of them do."

She said shrugging again. Sierra nodded as she took in the information.

"so does it just make us invisible or something?"

"No it just allows us to pass through others"

Marian answered offering a soft smile as she explained it.

"So that means that all of those people back their saw us?"

Marian paused and vaguely remembered how quite a few of the cars she passed through seemed to jerk as if the drivers were jolted in surprise at the phasing.

"Uh- If my memory serves me right, I believe that they did."

Her face grew pale at the realization that she herself almost caused a few accidents.

'Note to self: DO NOT use phasing technology on earth anymore unless it is an absolute emergency'

she told herself feeling immense guilt at the realization of the possible consequences that her actions might have had. Sierra shrugged before she spoke up again.

"Hey don't sweat it too much, at least no one got hurt in the end right?"

She asked her face uncomfortable as she spoke, seeming to immediately regret her words as soon as they left her lips. Marian sighed smiled weakly in understanding and nodded.

"next time I have to do that it'll be in a traffic jam."

She said a serious look on her face. Sierra laughed nervously and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah I think that would be the safest thing to do, along with getting back to the camp quickly."

She urged nervously glancing up at the rear view mirror hoping that the two men weren't following them anymore.

Marian sighed and nodded her face serious.

"speaking of, Sierra we have to talk."

She said her voice empty of the nervous joy that had once been in it.

"It's too dangerous now, with those two knowing I'm here on earth, we have to leave tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest."

She sighed rubbing her face quickly with her right hand.

"They knew where we were, they knew I was here."

She paused to take in a shaky breath before continuing.

"who knows what else they know about our location."

Sierra was quiet as the nervous daemon spoke.

"I know you don't want to leave this early and before you can enjoy your last days on earth before we head off to connection and then my home, but I can't see a safer alternative for us."

She said her face full of genuine worry and concern for the two of theirs safety.

"We need to get ready to leave for tonight now."

She urged as Sierra was silent for a moment before she spoke.

"I-I agree, and it's fine it's not like I won't be able to see them again right?"

She asked nervously her eyes wide as she held her phone in her hands tightly. Her fingers wiping themselves across the phones screen over and over in worry and nervous energy. Marian sighed at the question, her face unreadable at the moment as she thought about what to say.

"I"

She paused eyes watching the road in front of them filled with guilt.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure Sierra, anything can happen while your on connection. Just because of what I've told you about my planet was all good to you, doesn't mean that it doesn't have its faults and issues."

She breathed out a shaky breath before continuing.

"Every planet has issues and faults that what makes each planet unique and alive. Each planet I have ever been on have had hundreds of different ways you could either get hurt or maimed in some way or another."

She took in another shaky breath, concern clear on her face now as she spoke.

"Even connection has things like that, albeit from what I have seen it's a lot less life threatening than what it once was when It was first forming."

She looked to Sierra quickly with a look of gentle urgency.

"I'm not telling you these things to frighten you or anything Sierra, I'm telling you these things because I want you to be at least a little prepared when you go there with me okay?"

She asked gently her body tense as she waited for Sierra to speak.

"I,"

Sierra began quietly, her mind racing with what Marian had told her.

"I understand Marian, I promise I'll be careful. I mean it can't be as bad as earth right?"

She asked a nervous smile on her face that was quickly dropped as She took in The others serious look. She seemed so nervous and concerned for Sierra. Sierra went quiet for a moment before she spoke again.

"I-i will I promise you."

She said genuinely her eyes filling with a grim understanding that this wasn't some kind of fun adventure she was going on. This was going to be her life for the next five years. Her mind felt numb at the thought, how could she have been so dumb to think that connection had nothing wrong tied to it. She hadn't even been there yet and already she was acting like she knew the planet like the back of her hand. She didn't no one that she knew on earth did, no one except Marian.

"Sierra?, hey it's alright you didn't know. I've only told you about some of connection not all of it. It's not like you knew everything about it, it's just"

she sighed taking a deep breath in before she went on.

"It's just I wanted to let you know that it's not perfect, nothing is perfect in life, in any life"

she emphasized the 'any' with a look of knowing. Sierra only nodded in quiet and solemn understanding.

"that's fine, let's just focus on today okay"

she looked out the window as she spoke.

"Just for the moment."

She asked. Marian was quiet as she drove before she nodded.

"I- yeah I-i agree, besides Morgan told me and Sam last night about your plans for swimming in the lake for today."

She said bringing up the plan Sierra and Morgan had talked about the night before, a small smile on her face. Sierra have her a small smile and nodded.

"Yeah, me and him talked about it, and well we still might as well."

She said her smile growing as she spoke.

"Marian can we stop by a couple stores real quick before we get back to the camp?, I just wanna grab some things for the party tonight."

She said smiling widely, warmth and a sense of eagerness emanated from her.

"Party? What party?"

Marian asked raising an eyebrow at her words. Sierra was quiet an impish smile growing on her face.

"the party we're going to have today before we go tomorrow."

She said simply, her words mischievous and eager to get the tools she would need for the event that her mind was already creating in her head.

When they finally arrived back at the campsite, it was 8:15am and everyone was awake and going about there morning business. Sierra leaped our of the car carrying several bags of the slightly warm breakfast she and Marian had gotten for them all.

"Guess who's back with breakfast and some good and bad news!"

Sierra sang out as she made her way to the table closet to the RV, a smile on her face as she spoke.

"Hun!, I was beginning to get a little concerned for you."

Sam said as she met Sierra at the table, giving her a quick chaste kiss on her cheek, making the other smile warmly at her and hug her tightly.

"Heh yeah sorry about that, me and Marian got some stuff for tonight."

She said while setting the bags of food down onto the table. Sam raised an eyebrow at her words.

"tonight?"

She asked confused as to what Sierra could be planning.

"We're going to have a small lil' party down at the lake today!"

She cheered loudly causing many of the other camp patrons to smile and cheer at the mention of a party. Sam chuckled at the enthusiasm Sierra had replied with before she asked again.

"I guess that's the good news you were talking about?"

Sierra nodded at her, the warm and happy smile on her face never once leaving her face.

"Yeah" "what about the bad news?"

Sierra went quiet, the smile on her face shrinking as her eyes grew distant before she cleared her throat and called to everyone.

"Uh guys me and Marian have some important things to tell y'all"

everyone went quiet, eyes looking up at her.

"Uh"

she began nervously at the sight of so many eyes watching her, she coughed and began speaking clearly

"so me and Marian went to Walmart for a bit, just to get essentials for me when I'm on connection"

she paused briefly letting everyone take in the information before she went on.

"Well, the men in black guys were trailing us there."

She said quietly, everyone erupted into words of concern for Sierra and Marian.

"Are you alright?"

Oraiana asked her face filled with concern.

"were both fine, we lost them for a while. So we won't see them for awhile."

She said her eyes growing hard as she thought about her next words carefully.

"Marian suggests that me and her leave either tonight or tomorrow as quickly as possible."

Sierra said her voice going quiet as she spoke. Everyone went quiet at her words, Sam watched her concern Permeating from her as she spoke. Sierra's eyes grew misty but determined as she continued speaking

"I've decided that the two of us we'll go early next morning when it's still dark out, I can't risk any of you getting hurt just because two weird emotionless guys are coming after Marian. I'd feel guilty if any of you got hurt."

She said as she forced a smile onto her face.

"That's why tonight we're going to party and have the funnest night of our lives!"

Her voice grew determined as she spoke.

"I'm not going to let the fact that I'm going away ruin this trip for all of you!, fuck that noise! I'm going to make sure that we're all gonna party like it's the end of the world or something!"

She said her voice raising into a slight shout that was filled with a determination that was palpable.

"So"

she began.

"who's ready to party?"

She asked a sly smile on her face as she spoke. A beat passed with silence before everyone began to agree quietly at first before they began to agree more loudly. Sierra smiled warmly at everyone as they She and the rest of them began to dig into the breakfast she and Marian had gotten. A feeling of determined hope welled up in her, hope that this would be fine, that this would go smoothly and without a single problem.


	10. Chapter 9: goddamnit I jinxed it

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The party goes underway, Marian reveals a important part of her identity to Sierra. another dream haunts the human the wonder who she really is and the sound's of gunshots are heard, sparking off the end of Sierra's once normal way of life and igniting the end of a way of life for many of the party-goers.

The party that night, went well at least in sierras opinion it did. The thrum of the music that came from the Bluetooth speakers that Marian had gotten earlier that at Walmart, the large amount of snack cakes, chips, and soft drinks added to the experience. Sierra had even gotten several armfuls of packages of pool floaties at a dollar store they had stopped by briefly on the way back. The blue and green fairy lights Sierra had strung up around the area lit the small piece of lake shore they swam at in a calming light. They had dunked into the water once breakfast had been finished, at least almost everyone. The only one who hadn't joined in the swimming was Marian, who when asked just simply answered with a small embarrassed smile.

"I can't swim that well."

Sierra had rose an eyebrow but shrugged regardless.

"You can still wade around in the shallows of the water y'know?"

The daemon stammered at the suggestion as if her plan to not swim had been foiled by the other.

"I, well I can't um"

Sierra held up one hand to stop the other.

"it's fine"

she smiled reassuringly at the other.

"If you don't feel like swimming it's fine."

She said as she patted the other playfully on her shoulder. Sierra had gotten dressed into a newer swimsuit she had gotten that morning. It was a single piece that had lines of purple on the sides of it, that led to the edges of the swimsuit. Marian tried to make her eyes not drift down to sierras modest chest but she managed to not gain the other attention to that. She nodded before she sighed softly

"it's just that, well my body wouldn't look right in a swimsuit like yours."

She glanced away a look of embarrassment covering her face. Sierra blinked owlishly her face contorting into one of confusion before she gave her a look of understanding.

"I know what you mean, I get self conscious of how I look in a swimsuit too."

She said giving the other a reassures smile. Marian flushed at the comment before looking away. 

"T-thank you Sierra."

She said quietly before sparing another glance to her. Sierra smiled closing her eyes before she spoke again.

"not a problem, if you change your mind about swimming with us today I left a couple swimsuits out that I think will fit you on me and Sam's bed in the RV."

She said before the sound of Sam calling for her came from the lake shore. She gave the daemon an apologetic smile.

"welp I gotta get going, I'm the life of the party after all."

She said before giving a sly wink to the other before she rushed quickly down the trail that led to where everyone waited at the lake shore. Marian watched the dirty blonde make her way down before she sighed softly to herself and looked down at her body a look of discomfort on her face. She glanced towards the RV a contemplative look on her face. Should she?, what if they became disgusted at her like her brother did when she had woken up all those years ago? She shook her head before lightly smacking at her cheeks to break her line of thought.

"They wouldn't, if they did they would have already by now wouldn't they? I mean I'm an alien to them after all, maybe they'll just play it off as an alien thing?"

She sighed again rubbing her face with both of her hands.

"hopefully."

She whispered giving in and walking towards the RV.

Sierra jumped into the water from the small ledge that Nathan, Tim and Sam had found earlier. It was sturdy and looked like several people before them had long since broke into the spot. The small makeshift rope swing was weathered and beginning to fray from use. But after a few quick tugs and yanks the rope proved to still be safe to use. Sierra swung in the air above the water and let go of her hold on the rope and she fell into the thankfully deeper water that she could land in without fear of breaking her legs against the lake floor. She resurfaced the water and gave a loud whoop of joy and adrenaline fueled excitement.

"I fucking love this!"

She yelled to Sam who was the next behind her to use the rope swing. The other blonde gave her a warm smiled and yelled down to her.

"I know right?!"

Then Sam pushed herself off the ledge and swung on the rope before she let go and curled her body into a ball and landed into the water with a large wave following after. Sierra shrieked in laughter as the force of the wave moved her a good few feet from where Sam had landed. The other resurfaced the water seconds later, sputtering and wiping her face of water. A wide smile soon growing onto her face at the sight of Sierra. The two of them had left their glasses back on the shore along with their towels. Sierra giggled her chest filled with a joyful warmth that she felt as she swam closer to Samantha and hugged her tightly. Sierra was going to get as many hugs as she could with one of the loves of her life as much as possible before she left tomorrow morning that was for sure. Sam laughed at the others actions before she pressed a soft kiss atop the crown of her head.

"Cannonball!"

The loud shout of Morgan came from above them, the two looked up in time to see Morgan swing from the rope and cannonball into the lake causing the two to hold tightly onto each other as the wave made from their friends dive rose up and pushed them farther from the spots they had been prior. Sierra snorted in laughter as Morgan surfaced the water with a loud whoop. He was wearing a plain darker colored T-shirt along with a pair of swim shorts that were covered with blue and white stripes of all kinds.

"Morgan you dick!, we were having a moment here!"

Sierra called out laughter in her voice. He only laughed loudly at her words even as she pulled away from Sam and began to swim towards him a look of impish glees in her eyes.

"Oh shit"

He said as he quickly began to swim back to shore Sierra hot on his tail.

"Get back here you prick!"

She yelled after a smile of laughter on her face as she ran after him. Sam watched the whole event while she laughed loudly from the lake. Sierra and him ran and jumped over the few party members that stayed at the lakes shore. Adrian for her hair, Ricardio for his diabetic pump, and Amelia sunbathed on the shore because she hadn't felt like swimming yet. Sierra wrapped her arms around Morgan and held him close to her chest as she began to give the other a noogie. The others arms waving about as she did so.

"muhahaha beg for forgiveness you fool!"

Sierra said giving an imitation of a stereotypical evil villain. Morgan laughed loudly and lightly smacked at her arms as he yelled out

"I'll never surrender!"

Sierra laughed loudly before she ceased in her noogieing and gave her friend a hug before releasing him. Morgan blinked grateful that she had released him and he looked up to see Sierra staring up at the top of the slope to someone who was standing at the top.

"Marian?"

The dirty blonde asked.

Marian stood in the bathroom of the RV looking herself over and over, her mind screaming at her about how wrong her body looked. How her eyes kept going down to her chest and how much flatter it looked without the padding she always had on. The fact that no one had noticed her true gender was one that she didn't want to reveal so quickly. But she wanted to enjoy her last day on earth with Sierra, maybe even learn some new things about the planet before she and her left.

"It's fine, your fine."

She told her reflection as she avoided looking at her chest and her lower half. She couldn't do much with that part of her, aside from making it look smaller and unnoticeable. She breathed in slowly closing her eyes before she exhaled slowly. Her mind clearing of the heavy fog of uncertainty that had covered it.

"Let's just get this over with."

She told herself as she made her way out of the restroom and out of the RV. The grass was hot and soft underneath her feet as she walked outside. She shivered slightly at the breeze that breezed by, her violet eyes going to the top of the trail. Her ears picked up the sounds of cheerful laughter and the sounds of enjoyment. She felt her heart skip a beat when she heard sierra's laugh. Her face flushed darkly as she felt the warmth that she felt stirring whenever she saw the human, or listened to her go on about a topic she liked. She shook her head to clear her mind as she made her way to the trail and looked down to the small group that was at the lake shore below her. Sierra seemed to be giving a headlock to Morgan before she gave a laugh that sounded like something from a cartoon. The daemon struggled to not smile at the humans words, and how funny they sounded. Soon sierra released her hold on the other before standing up straight and looking up at her. The squinting blue green hazel eyes looked much smaller than they usually did due to the others lack of glasses.

"Marian?"

She could feel her heart sinking as a feeling of regret overwhelmed her. What was she doing?, they were going to think she was stranger than they already did. She cleared her throat as she began to make her way down to the shore. Sierra smiled warmly at her.

"Hey there!, I was beginning to think you weren't coming down here."

She said happily. She quickly took a hold of Marian's hands and began to pull her towards another path that was farther down.

"Come on! I gotta show you this cool rope swing Nathan, Sam and Tim found around here!'

She said smiling widely at her. The daemon felt warmth at the others lack of attention to her appearance. She followed after the other, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Sierra I'm pleased that you want to show me this rope-swing of yours but I don't think I should try it."

Sierra laughed good heartedly at her words.

"You dork I'm not showing it to you to make you use it!, I just wanted to show you it!"

She said reassuringly as they made a slight turn and Marian watched as the tallest of sierras friends Nathan pushed off from the edge while holding onto a thick rope that looked like it was still good but definitely had seen better days.

"See?, isn't it cool?"

Sierra asked her smiling warmly. Marian nodded hesitantly swallowing shallowly. Sierra paused her eyes going to the others face in concern.

"Hey you alright?"

She asked oh so gently to the other, Marian could feel her face darkening in humiliation at the others question. She was quiet for a moment before she spoke up.

"It's nothing it's just,"

She trailed off as Sierra looked her up and down quickly a look of confusion than understanding came over her face. Sierra snapped her fingers as quickly as her look of understanding came onto her face.

"So that's why you were nervous to go swimming with us."

She said smiling gently at the daemon girl who just blinked owlishly and slowly nodded.

"I-i didn't know if it was a thing that happens here on earth or not... so I didn't want to say anything."

She looked away as she spoke, her voice going quiet as drake ran past them and quickly swung from the rope swing not even giving either of them a second glance as he did so. Sierra watched her brother as he dove to the water, a few seconds later the sounds of him yelling came up from the water about how he got water up his nose causing the dirty blonde to snort back a laugh. She turned her face back to Marian giving her a sheepish smile before shrugging.

"Brothers, what can you do?"

Before she cleared her throat and spoke calmly again.

"I know what you mean, I mean Morgan could probably better understand that kinda stuff than me but I kinda deal with that some days."

She said glancing away a soft blush dusting her cheeks.

"'That kinda stuff?' What do you mean?"

Marian asked confused at her words. Sierra smiled before gesturing to Marian's body and than back to herself.

"your trans right?, I'm gender-fluid. Most of the time I feel like I'm a girl and than a lot of the time I feel like well"

she shrugged briefly before continuing on.

"like none of the two, just me plain ol' Sierra who likes clowns and memes."

She smiled sheepishly again before going on.

"and it happens rarely usually after I get upset about some stuff I'll feel like a guy, and when that happens I'll feel like I'm in the wrong body."

She gestured to her chest.

"usually it's because of these, but I manage the best I can."

She said smiling wistfully as if the mention of those few days were something she wished could have changed. Marian nodded at her words.

"I suppose that is similar to how I feel, but I just"

The daemon struggled for words as she began to fiddle a loose piece of thread on her swimsuit. It was a single piece like sierras but it was much brighter in color, accents of greens and yellows covered the outfit in a smattering of tie dye-esque patterns. Sierra carefully took her worrying hands into her own, her mind unconsciously taking notice of how much bigger her hands were compared to hers. How much taller the other was compared to her. Something told her that it should have been the other way, that she should have been taller but she brushed the thought away as she carefully brought the tips of Marian's fingers to her lips and gave them a quick and soft peck before holding them close to her chest.

"Marian"

She began her eyes filled with an adoration that the daemon has only seen her show for Samantha, and Ricardio.

"I promise you that nothing is wrong with you, your being yourself and that's all anyone can really ask of you."

Marian took in the look of soft and gentle caring that Sierra gave her. How it warmed her chest and made her cheeks burn brightly.

"And I have to admit that a lot of people here on earth will understand it, let me tell you"

She said her eyes lidding and looking down at the ground that was soft and worn underneath her bare wet feet.

"Me and my friends don't care about what you are or what gender you label yourself as, as long as your you I don't care."

She smiled softly before looking back up into Marian's eyes. The daemon could feel herself gasp at the sight of the amount of pure unadulterated care and love that Sierra was giving her. Her eyes were alight with a strange ethereal look to them, as if they were filled with a life beyond what she could comprehend. Than the look was gone and Sierra stood there blinking owlishly as if she had been in a trance moments before. She coughed to clear her throat, her face suddenly ablaze with embarrassment.

"Uh sorry about that I kinda just went off on a tangent there didn't I?"

Marian shook her head a smile calming the others worries.

"No no it's alright, it was nice hearing you say those things. It meant a lot to me."

Sierra flushed ever darker at the others smile. She glanced around quickly as if she was contemplating something before she spoke again.

"Uh Marian can I say something to you real quick?"

"Um sure I suppose you cou-!"

She went silent, lips, specifically sierras lips were pressed against hers. They were chapped and cracked but soft all at once. she blinked widely as Sierra pulled back the same sheepish smile from before was on her face. The dirty blonde stepped away and walked quickly to the rope swing before she turned back to Marian who was frozen in the same spot she had been before, her mind a blank Marian could only blink in shock as she watched Sierra give her a wink and a smile before she pushed herself off of the ledge and swung into the air and fell into the water below. A beat passed, then two then Marian's face grew a brilliant violet. Her eyes alight and glowing brightly as she felt a tidal wave of emotions pour forth. Sierra kissed her, she kissed her regardless of who she was. At that thought Marian could feel her blush darken even more.

"Gods help me.."

she murmured to herself as she held her burning face in her hands. She could still feel her lips, the kiss itself hadn't been much. It was a small quick chaste kiss, something that was soft and gentle like the human. At least to her it had been, who knew what went on half the time through sierras mind? Marian looked up at the rope swing that still swung back and forth in the air slightly from when Sierra had swung from it. She sucked in a deep breath and ran to the rope, her face determined as she grabbed the rope and pushed herself as hard as she could from the ledge. The rope swung with her on it, she looked up to the sky as she yelled out in euphoria her emotions finally showing themselves. She released her hold of the swing when she was at the highest point, the rough texture of the rope bumping against her hands as she felt herself begin to fall towards the water's surface. Her stomach felt like it went up inside her throat as she began to fall faster towards the water. Her mind a flurry of thoughts and emotions as she decided to curl herself into a ball and she felt her body make impact with the water below.

Sierra had jumped into the lake like a coward after she had done her action. She swam as fast as she could to Samantha who was floating on her back her eyes shut and a calm smile on her face. Her smile grew wider as she felt and heard sierra make her way to her side.

"Sam, Sammy, honey bun."

Sierra called to her, the sound of excitement clear in her voice. Sam opened one eye to look up at the blushing face of her girlfriend, she blinked then realized something. She didn't? Did she?

"You kissed her didn't you?"

She said knowingly, after all the years of knowing Sierra she knew the signs that she showed whenever she felt romantically attracted to someone. Her only response she got was sierras blush deepening till her entire face was a slight red. Sam laughed and poked a finger at her love's nose.

"I knew you were gonna do it eventually hun, it just happened a lot sooner than I thought."

She said as she held sierras face in her hands, her eyes going soft as she saw Sierra's aura around her. It was a green, with tints of teal that mixed with the color. She was happy and anxious all at once.

"Shh your fine love, I already told you that I understand your feelings about this whole thing."

She said as she stood up and pressed a kiss against sierras lips, The other kissing her back with love pouring out from her with everything she had. She pulled away tears of joy welling up in her eyes as she kissed at Sam's forehead before pressing her forehead against it.

"Y'know I'll never stop loving you or Roderick right?"

She asked her face filled with genuine love for the woman in her arms. Sam smiled softly and warmly as she held Sierra close to her.

"I know you never would stop loving us hun."

Sierra opened her mouth to speak again but her eyes looked up to the sky, her eyes squinted in confusion before she spoke

"Marian?"

Sam quickly looked to where Sierra was looking and she could only see the faint smudge that was attached to the rope swing letting go and from what she could see from the gray and violet color of the blurry smudge of Marian who cannonballs into the water with a fairly loud 'clap!' Of water making contact with skin. Making her wince briefly before her eyes widened at the size of the wave created by The daemon's cannonball.

"Holy"

Sierra began as she began to swim away holding tightly onto Sam all the while. Same watched as the wave splashed down and forced them off their feet and floating a good two yards away and towards the shore. Sierra blinked as she sat up on the shallows of the lake, Sam still held in her arms and blinking and coughing the small amount of water that had gone up her nose in the wave.

"Sweet messiahs"

Sierra whispered quietly wide eyed and shocked surprise on her face. The form of Marian resurfaced in the water where she had landed. She waved wildly to the two humans along to the several other party goers who had been literally washed ashore from the force of her wave.

"Hey! Where are you guys going?! Is there something in the water or something?"

She asked loudly from where she was. At the question Sierra burst into a fit of laughter burying her face into Samantha's wet hair. Sam laughed loudly before she asked quietly.

"I can see why you like her."

Sierra burst out into another fit of breathless laughter.

By the time the sun had begun to start dipping down, and the sky turned a brilliant sunset color of orange pinks and reds. They all had begun swimming in the water closer to shore, less of them jumped from the rope swing as it grew darker and darker. The stars already beginning to shine in the darkening sky, and Marian sat at the lake shore her feet resting in the water as she watched the sun set. Sierra had long since tired herself out for the moment and was currently pressed up against her drying body. Sam sat next to Sierra a smile of knowing on her face. Roderick had taken a seat up on Marian's opposite his feet in the water and his face relaxed as he sat with the other three.

"This is so fucking beautiful"

Sierra mumbled sleepily from where she laid curled between Sam and Marian. Roderick nodded at her words.

"Yeah its is pretty nice."

"It's not just pretty nice."

Sierra began again her head peeking up as she rubbed at her eyes sleepily, her curled fist pushing up her glasses that she had long since put back on.

"It's beautiful, like something straight outta a Disney movie."

She said smiling brightly even as her entire being screamed exhaustion. Sam chuckled at her girlfriends words before she looked at Marian who had been silent the whole time.

"Marian you alright there?"

She gently tapped at the others shoulder, Marian blinked seemingly snapped out of her thoughts.

"Hmm? Sorry Sam I was thinking about something is all."

Sierra blinked up at Marian before patting at her face slowly while saying very quietly 'pat' every time her hand made contact with the others cheek.

"You alright there?"

Sierra asked sleepily, her eyes seeming to be struggling to stay open. Marian smiled down at the other before nodding slowly

"yes Sierra I'm alright, we're alright."

She said smiling warmly and leaning back into her arms and smiling as the sun set and the sky slowly turned dark and the stars shined brain the night sky. Sierra had fallen asleep curled close to Sam her face calm and peaceful. Sam was the first to speak

"Marian dear, can you please help me carry Sierra to the RV so she can sleep in the bed."

She said quietly a warm smile on her face as she and Marian carefully picked Sierra up with a surprising amount of ease.

"You sure you can pick her up there Marian?"

Roderick asked as he followed after the two. The black haired daemon shrugged at the question. 

"eh, she's not all that heavy really. I could probably carry her when she falls asleep during our trip to my sector when we go to connection."

Her face turned worried as she mentioned her planet. Her grip on Sierra tightening briefly and causing the sleeping woman to curl up closer to her chest, a grunt of discomfort coming from her asleep form.

"Oops Sorry, I just got worried there for a bit."

She said loosening her hold of the other. Sam nodded and opened the door to the RV when they made it to the front of it.

"The two of you will be fine, I'll keep an eye out for those two guys you told everyone about tonight."

She was quiet as she spoke her eyes glancing towards the trees near them.

"We should go inside, I'll help everyone out with cleaning everything up later before I go to bed."

Marian nodded in agreement.

"Should we have her say goodbye to everyone before we let her sleep for the night?"

Roderick asked raising an eyebrow as they entered into the RV. Marian nodded,

"it would make sense but...."

she trailed off looking down to the human sleeping in her arms.

"We should wait until after we get everything cleaned up"

she paused before going on.

"to give Sierra time to rest for a bit."

She said as she set the sleeping dirty blonde onto the bed her purple and green wavy lined beach towel wrapped loosely around her like a blanket. Her body heat had long since warmed the towel and her entire body. The towel was slightly moist with the water that she had toweled off of herself half heartedly before she had gotten busy with talking to everyone at the party. Marian smiled to herself as she watched sierras sleeping form curl in on itself and into a fetal position. Sam spoke quietly to the daemon.

"she does that a lot"

"huh?"

"Sierra, she sleeps like a cat a lot of the time."

Samantha explained smiling softly.

"Always drowsy when it's warm and getting close to me and Roderick whenever it's cold. She's definitely someone who loves to get affection of kind. I mean like a hug or handholding stuff like that."

Sam elaborated as she waved one hand around as she spoke.

"Just letting you know before you guys go tomorrow."

She smiled as she sent a coy look to Marian. Marian smiled and nodded as the three of them went outside to clean up what was left of the party.

Sierra was flying again, her dreams seemed to really leave her like this didn't they? She thought as she flew around the pastel cotton candy clouds. She wasn't about to allow herself to get caught in one of the clouds again. She shivered in repulsion at the last time she did. She could still feel the hands dragging her into one of them. She wanted to avoid them for now, hopefully avoid any nightmarish part of her dream tonight if she could. She glanced down to the vast forest underneath before she shook her head a grimace forming on her face. She didn't want to go through that weird dark abysmal place again. She wanted something new, something that couldn't possibly have anything bad happen in it. Suddenly as soon as her mind had the thought the vast forest below her changed. A good half of the forest melted away into a shining blue and light green lake, a sand and rock laced shore lined the entire lake. She blinked at the sudden lake coming into existence but shook it off, she had asked for something new. She looked again at the lake, it was definitely new. She dove down through the air avoiding pastel clouds all the while. Her feet skimmed the lakes surface as she fluttered above the lake. Maybe a foot or so away from it, her bare toes dipped and streaked through the water as she flew around the lake. She took in a deep breath and dove into the water, her eyes looking on in wonder at the emerald water below. The sunlight streaming through it made it look like something straight out of a painting that she had seen before. She fluttered her wings pushing back water and beginning to jet through the crystal clear emerald green lake water. Tiny brightly colored fish swam through her fingers and her long billowing hair. She giggled at the sensation of the fishes tails and fins tickling at the palms of her hands and the tips of her fingers. How they weaved in between locks of her hair. She could feel a strange fluttering feeling on the sides of her neck, her right hand quickly going to it and barely grazing against the two thin long slits that fluttered on either side of her throat.

'Gills?, I mean I am underwater so I guess it isn't to weird for me to dream about having gills for it.'

She thought as she looked around the underwater world surrounding her. It was strange how clear she could see in the lake water, or how easy it was for her to take in breaths through her gills as she swam around. Her six arms gliding her effortlessly through the water. Her five eyes looking around at her surroundings as she sat among some moss rocks, where even smaller brightly colored fish swam around and in between the small blades of mossy flora. She felt content and serene like she always did before something awful happened to take her out of the calm dream-like world around her. She fought against the calm that was growing at first but then surrendered to it. Laying on her back onto the grassy lake bed below her, silt and sand billowing in the water as she did so. The wide peaceful smile on her face stayed there even as she felt the lake bed beneath her sinking down and effortlessly swallowing her whole. She didn't dare move even as her heart beat out of her chest. She was past caring at this point, if it was going to eventually happen she might as well let it happen. She closed her eyes as the lake bed reached her face and she was swallowed by the slit and sand.

When she opened her eyes again she was back in the large spacious gray concrete room from before. She sat up from where she laid her hands feeling sticky and tacky as they pressed onto the floor behind her. Then she felt the wet lick of a tongue swiping across the palm of her hands.

"Sweet mirth! What the fuck is that?!"

She shrieked as she threw herself a good foot from where she had been sitting prior. Eyes wide and fearful as she looked on at the mess of strange caramel brown and small pink tongues peeking out all over the spot she had been sitting at. She carefully poked at the mess of sticky caramel semi-solid liquid that looked strangely like caramel, small flecks of grainy light brown sugar was trapped in the liquid. She yanked her hand back when she caught the sight of several quarter sized holes, many of them had short pink tongues lapping at the strange sticky substance while a good few closest to her had eyes of all colors staring at her.

"Sweet Jesus What the fuck!"

She swore under her breath as she scooted herself farther away from the spot. Her hands and legs pumping as she pushed herself up onto her legs. Her heart kickstarting and beating rapidly as she eyed the large spot nervously.

"Hey!"

She blinked wildly as the loud sudden voice of a child yelled out behind her. She turned around blinking owlishly as she took in the sight of the same ten year old tan girl from before.

"Uh..."

"don't you Uh me you prick! You left us here with her!"

The girl hissed our frowning and crossing her arms the glare on her tanned face deepening as she jerked her head towards where the man from before and the younger version of herself sat on a green carpeted floor. The younger version of herself curled in the tallers lap and talking on about something with exaggerated movements of her arms and a large beaming smile on her face. Sierra could only blink at the sight before looking back at the girl before her.

"Um okay, I'm sorry for leaving you with her then I guess?"

Sierra gave the ten year old girl a look of confusion. Seriously what was this girls issue with her younger self? The girl gave her a frown before looking away and walking away huffily. Sierra blinked confused as she watched the girl walk away before sitting on a small purple pillow that was a few yards away.

"Okay then that was weird"

she shrugged before making her way towards the man that she could remember vaguely being called Michael, and her younger self that looked a little bit different this time round. Her hair was a shade or two lighter than before and her eyes were glowing a bright blue, Then Sierra noticed the wings. Tiny little lunar moth wings were in between the younger's shoulder blades. Sierra blinked at the sight but shook her head forcing herself to sit in front of the two.

"Hey, looks like I'm back again"

she sent a sheepish smile to the two who immediately gave her warm smiles upon seeing her.

"Oh! Welcome back ma'am!"

Michael said his dark face alight with an aura of gentle warmth.

"Hi there older me!"

The younger version of herself said smiling widely and rushing immediately off of the taller man's lap to fling herself at sierras arms. She snorted in laughter at the younger's antics but gave her a tight hug before pulling her back.

"Hey there lil' me, nice seeing you again!"

The younger nodded vigorously her smile wide and a single tooth missing from her mouth. Sierra blinked at the sight before she spoke up about it.

"whoa there lil' me what happened there?"

She gestured to her own mouth making her younger self to widen her eyes and her smile to grow excited.

"Oh! I got's my first loose tooth today so mister Michael helped me pull it out!, an now when I go to bed tonight the tooth fairy will give me a visit!"

The younger said excitedly before she seemed to blink on sudden realization.

"Oh snap! I need to go get a pillow so I can put my tooth under!"

And with that the younger girl ran off quickly towards where a fairly large pile of several different colored pillows laid. Sierra blinked before smiling and glancing at Michael and rose an eyebrow at him.

"A loose tooth huh?"

Michael laughed nervously before glancing away a look of worry gracing his face briefly before he smiled warmly again.

"Well the little miss needed some help ma'am and she asked me to help her out."

He explained looking at her with genuine fear. Sierra blinked at the fear and the continued use of the title he called her.

"Ma'am? Where the hell is that coming from?"

She asked abruptly eyes creasing in confusion, her stomach twisted uneasily at his words and behavior, Something wasn't right here. Michael blinked at her words before he quietly spoke, his eyes filled with confusion.

"Well your much fairer skinned than me ma'am and well"

he seemed to pause slightly before he spoke again even quieter.

"I'm just scared you might whip me if I say any words of disrespect ma'am."

Disgust and horror filled Sierra at his words. She was frozen in place for a moment before she cleared her throat and spoke again.

"Michael what year do you think it is?"

'Please for everything Holy don't say something like the 1800's'

she thought to herself as Michael looked at her confused for a moment before he spoke.

"it's 1854 of course"

he said confused at her words. Sierra gagged in the back of her mind, as she began to notice how faint barely visible scars ran on his shoulders. Lines that made slight dips in his skin, then she noticed the strange dark coloration around his throat. Her eyes went wide as she gasped loudly, her breath catching in her throat at the realization that something was horribly wrong here. Michael immediately noticed her eyes looking at his neck and he covered the dark bruise with his hands.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Sierra asked loudly tears of horror beginning to well up in her eyes as she felt a strong amount of empathy for the man before her.

"I- I I'm sorry ma'am I didn't mean for you to see that I swear I wasn't trying to let you see my last wounds. I"

his words went silent as Sierra gagged, her hands going quickly to her mouth and the taste of bile filling her mouth. She gagged but forced herself to swallow her bile back down as she forced herself To relax.

"Sweet messiahs Michael, it's 2020 for me. And I'm asleep right now having a dream about talking to a dead slave from the 1800's who has a bruise around his neck from when he was probably hung to death!"

Her words became hysterical as her hands went to her hair, her fingers twisting into her locks as she yanked one fist full and tears of grieving welled up in her eyes.

Michael watched her concern clear on his face as he listened to her words. Dead, he was dead, and from her words he had been dead for a very long time. He wondered how his family had went on without him, how his old and feeble mother had went on after he died, how his two sisters probably had gotten beaten back on the large tobacco plantation where he and his family had lived and worked on his whole life.

'Up until the day I passed on I suppose'

he thought with a grimace as tears of pain and regret welled up in his eyes. Sierra stopped her panicking at the sounds of the others sudden quiet sniffing. Guilt ate at her as she took in the sight of the gentle giant of a man crying before her.

"Shit Michael."

She began quickly wiping away her tears and hugging the other as tightly as she could. The sensation of a long forgotten memory tickled at the back of her mind as she imagined with terrifying accuracy how the man's last moments must have went. The rough rope rubbing against his neck as it choked the life out of him, his hands probably tied behind his back as to prevent him from grabbing at the noose around his neck. How he had probably cried as he slowly suffocated to death, fear and then a strange peace filling him as he faded out into darkness. It all felt so real to her in that moment that she hugged the taller man tighter and rubbed her hand up and down his back. Why was she here if she hadn't died?, why was he and the other girl here? Why was a younger version of herself here? These questions filled sierras mind as she held Michael a part of her aching in pain and guilt at the words she had yelled earlier.

"I'm sorry I said anything."

She began quietly whispering into his ear. He shook his head quickly and pulled back giving her a wet smile.

"It's fine ma-"

Sierra gave him a withering look at the title.

"just call me Sierra"

she said quietly smilingly him. He paused nodding before he spoke again.

"It's fine miss Sierra, I was bound to remember my less than pleasant ending to my life, my only regret is that I don't remember having a chance to say goodbye to my ma"

He said giving her a sad smile. Sierra nodded understanding that feeling.

"I know what you mean, I'd hate to go out like that and not have a chance to have at least said goodbye to my family one last time before leaving the land of the living."

She said as she looked around at the room around them. Luckily her younger self didn't seem to have heard her words and was still busy among the pile of pillows and the other girl, a quick glance towards where Sierra had last seen the girl showed that she was giving her a sharp burning glare from where she still sat Atop the medium purple pillow. Michael smiled warmly at her words and nodded, before he followed her line of sight and then grimaced at the glare the other room patron was giving her.

"It appears miss Sierra that Camilla doesn't like you very much."

Sierra snorted at his words.

"Thank you Michael I can kinda see that"

she said rubbing at her eyes with her hands, wiping away the few tears that were left on her face. He smiled warmly again before he asked quietly.

"Uh miss Sierra If your asleep like you said then why are you here with us?"

He asked his voice filled with confusion at the situation. She shrugged looking away at the girl now known as Camilla and around at the rest of the vast gray concrete room.

"I have no clue, but I have a vague idea but I'm going to have to wait awhile till I have enough information before I even think of talking about my theory."

She said holding her chin in her hand as she spoke, eyes shining with vague understanding. Much opened his mouth to speak again but the faint sounds of gunshots rang out. His eyes went wide at the sound and a loud shriek of fear came from the direction Camilla sat at. Sierra winced as the loud sounds of yelling began to surround the room.

"Wake up!, wake up! Pl-ase! Wak- up!"

Sierra winced as her head pounded and her eyes began to burn before she finally opened her eyes with a start. The first thing Sierra heard when she woke up were two loud gunshots that sounded mere yards away and then yelling, specifically yells of anger and fear. She recognized it as Samantha yelling in rage, Tim shouting for everyone to get into the RV quickly, Roderick yelling out for Sam, and finally the one shout that made Sierra go even more frozen in fear was the sound of pain from Marian.

"Shit"

Sierra whispered harshly to herself.

Marian and Sam stood beside each other comfortably as they cleaned up the now deflated pool toys that they had spent the better part of the past hour deflating. Marian sighed a warm smile on her face as she placed the pile of plastic colorful pool floaties into a captholge card, and gave Sam a sly wink and smile of mischievous joy as she did so. Sam snorted back a laugh as she watched the daemon.

"So"

she began, a small smile on her face as she spoke.

"when should we wake Sierra up?"

She gave Marian a quick glance of curiosity. Marian shrugged before she spoke, her eyes alight with the dim glow of purple light.

"Probably after we finish cleaning up, the portal isn't too far from here. Probably about roughly a few yards at most away from the camp."

She said giving the human a reassuring smile. Sam rose an eyebrow.

"and you didn't think it would have been a little smart of you to show us where it is?"

Marian blushes at the comment before rubbing at the back of her neck nervously.

"I well I didn't want to bring you all to see it, cause well it doesn't even look like a portal."

She said looking away and picking up the last three deflated plastic floaties from the rock and sand covered shore of the lake.

"It looks like there's nothing there at all but"

she trailed off standing up straight and looking at the lakes surface, the dark waters glinting faintly with the remaining lights that were still on at the shore and the many bright stars in the sky that night. She looked up at the night sky, her smile peaceful and bittersweet at the same time.

"People native to connection have an innate ability to sense these portals so there's a job for finding and locating them all."

Her smile grew even more bittersweet as she spoke.

"Temporary, permanent, any and all kinds of portals. No one on my world knows why they show up but they do, they seem to have a mind of there own coming and going whenever they please."

She sighed out her eyes lidding as she looked at the stars that made up the Big Dipper.

"Kind've like the stars back home."

She looked on at the constellation with a soft and bittersweet smile.

"Some disappear, and some"

She paused briefly to look at Samantha who had now moved to stand beside her and looked up at the same stars as her.

"Some stay for millennia and gain story's as to how they either came to be or what hero they once were before being placed in the stars."

Her hand began to point at the stars that made up the ladle of the constellation.

"We have hundreds of story's of all kinds like that, story's of twin children going into a field on their birthday but ended up getting lost in the stars."

She pointed at the last star at the end of the ladle.

"we call this one julienne and this one"

she pointed at the star next to it.

"we call this one heftor, in honor of the twins of eldertwine field and all of the good they did for their family before they got lost."

She sighed softly as if she related to that feeling of getting lost.

"I- a long time ago I thought that me and my brother were like the twins, but then I thought maybe me and him are more like Leanne and caprish."

Sam blinked at her in confusion at her words.

"What's that?"

Marian smiled sadly at her question before she quietly answered.

"it's a story about two siblings, one was a fair maiden of a girl named Leanne and the other was a fierce terror of a brother named caprish."

She searched the sky briefly before she paused and pointed at what Sam could vaguely recognize as a star that was part of the constellation of Leo she smiled at the sign immediately thinking of Sierra and how she always would go on about the signs that they people in her life were.

"This one is called caprish and this one"

she pointed to the star that was below it.

"this one is Leanne"

Sam watched Marian from the corner of her eye frowning softly at the expression of complete sorrow and regret on Marian's face.

"What happens in the story?"

She asked looking back up to the two stars Marian had pointed out. A soft sigh beside her was her answer.

"it's not a nice story I'll be honest, it was a story made back when times were cruel and before the great flood that overtook our world before our planet was reborn in a sense."

She said her eyes going misty as she spoke. Sam was silent as she spoke.

"Leanne was a gentle soul, a human through and through but caprish."

She paused swallowing harshly before continuing on.

"He was human but wrathful and full of hate. His soul and spirt full of horrid ideas and feelings for his dear sister. He was jealous of Leanne's popularity with everyone around them so one day he decided that he would get rid of her one way or another."

She blinked rapidly before she went on.

" so on the very same day caprish led Leanne deep into the woods far from where anyone could see the deed he was about to commit."

She paused to glance at Samantha slightly taken aback by how intently she was listening to her.

"Leanne was a very trusting girl so she followed her brother without an ounce of hesitation, putting so much faith and trust on her brother as he led her deeper and deeper into the woods. Caprish unknowing that she knew of his jealousy and understood his hatred for her popularity in there town. She trusted him to make a fair decision with her, when they made it to the clearing where caprish decided to commit the act of killing Leanne she asked for one last request before he went on. Caprish confused and disgruntled allowed his sister her last request."

"What was her last wish?"

Sam asked curious, Marian gave her a warm smile before going on.

"She wanted to pray to the gods. So back then before the great flood and everything, everyone believed in these nameless godlike beings that they would pray to for your typical thing. Things like good weather, rain, good health, and sometimes even more greedy things like illnesses upon someone they disliked. The records and information about these times are fairly sparse at best currently but maybe one day we'll learn more about them. But anyway"

she shook her head smiling sheepishly as she focused on telling the story.

"Leanne prayed to the gods, for them to take both her and caprish and put them in the night sky and make them into stars for all to see. She did this to make caprish feel better about the lack of popularity that he had, so that she and him would be together and still remembered for who they are. Caprish however "

Marian hesitated to continue before she forced herself to speak.

"He grew enraged at her prayers and in his rage killed Leanne, even as she begged him to listen to reason as she struggled to explain to him why she had asked for such a prayer. But"

she paused to sigh her face full of sadness for the two siblings in the story.

"He didn't listen only grew more enraged at her, soon everything went quiet and he was left alone In the woods his anger quickly leaving him as he realized exactly what he had done. He immediately begged the gods for forgiveness and mercy for his actions. When he heard nothing he grew mournful for his loss that he himself had caused. He turned the very blade that had pierced Leanne towards himself and stabbed himself. Soon his now dead body laid on the ground with Leanne's body at his corpse's feet. The gods took pity on the siblings then and agreed to accept Leanne request and made the two of them into two stars and in the same position as they had been in death."

Marian pointed at the star she had called Leanne.

"with Leanne at her brother's feet and caprish above her."

She went silent tears beginning to well up as she looked at the two stars with a deep mournful look.

Sam was silent for a moment before she spoke up.

"Which one of you are caprish then? And which one is Leanne?"

Her eyes soft and worried for the other. Marian gave her a sad smile before she spoke.

"I feel like my brother and I change between the two at times, some days I'm the jealous caprish and he's the popular Leanne, other times it's the other way round. But a long time ago in an old part of our lives we used to be like the twins of the evertwine fields, the both of us looking out for one another, helping each other out as we traveled in the big giant world we were lost in."

She gave a deep sad sigh before she continued.

"Then one day it just changed between the two of us, I changed and he just didn't seem to want to accept that I had changed, that I wasn't who I used to be. That the person I used to be was long gone and dead to the world."

Sam gave her an understanding smile before she spoke.

"I kinda understand a little bit, I mean Sierra told me earlier about the whole you being trans thing. But I don't mean that in a bad way"

she held her hands in front of herself turning to Marian quickly.

"I just wanted to let you know that Sierra told me a few hours ago when me and her were alone, and well if your brother can't except you for who you choose to be then I think you would be better without that part of your family as much as that might hurt to hear me say tha-"

she stopped at the withering look Marian gave her, her eyes filled with understanding but guilt and a tired and old secret before she spoke up.

"I appreciate what your trying to tell me I really do Samantha but I"

She stopped looking away quickly her ears going around listening and checking for something before she continued quieter.

"Samantha do you trust me?"

Sam blinked at the question before she answered.

"well I don't know you all that well yet but I feel like I can trust you to an extent I suppose."

"Good I need to tell you a secret of mine a very very close secret of mine, and I need you to not tell Sierra please."

Marian begged holding her two hands together tightly in a what looked like a prayer. Sam grimaced but nodded in understanding a ball of uncertainty welling up in her stomach as she spoke again.

"I promise not to tell Sierra about your secret as long as you promise me that you'll tell Sierra it one day."

She demanded her eyes nervous as she spoke, the daemon nodded quickly a grateful smile on her face all the while.

"I promise you that I will, I just"

Her face twisted into one of uncertainty as she spoke.

"I'm just worried that Sierra won't react all that well too it all."

Sam rose an eyebrow at her words.

"Sierra wouldn't I swear to you, I mean what even is this secret anyway?"

Marian glanced around them her ears flicking this way and that as she did before she leaned down to Samantha's left ear and whispered to her.

Samantha blinked in surprise at the daemon standing before her, her mind going a mile a minute at the information the other had divulged to her. she opened and closed her mouth wordlessly before she spoke.

"You have to tell her about this, this is too important for you to keep from her."

"I know I know, but I mean you heard what I told you about how I went through it, it was awful for me. My brother will never get the brother he used to have back and there's nothing he can do about it. He only has a sister now, even worse a sister that feels wrong in her body because of this all."

She gestured to herself as she spoke.

"I can't let Sierra feel that way like I did, I'd feel awful about it. The only reason I told you is because when I vaguely brought it up to her she mentioned offhandedly how you know 'all about this kinda thing'"

she said making quotation marks with her fingers all the while.

"I mean can you remember being her?"

Sam was quiet for a moment before she spoke again.

"I remember a lot of it, just like the other ones but I feel like some parts of it get fuzzy and distorted like a piece of melting metal."

She said looking away her hands gripping onto one another as she spoke.

"I understand it's like that for a few others like me and well they like the day where it's foggy from what they've told me."

She shrugged her shoulders as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"But I promise you that I can without a doubt see the signs already that my brother told me about when he saw me remembering things from my old life. The strange glazed look, the odd quiet afterwards, the new information coming from out of nowhere, knowing things from before when you never even met the person. She's showing it all."

She urged her eyes glowing brightly as she captholged the last few pool floaties that Samantha handed her. Sam was quiet as she walked away and towards the plug for the fairy lights that they had spread around the whole shore line area for them to be able to see where they were going at night, before she spoke.

"I-i understand just don't hold it from her until it's to late, if she finds out you knew before you tell her she will be angry at you for sure."

She said as they walked up the trail, the last few party items in hand as they made their way through the camp, calmly going about talking calmly to one another. Then the gunshots began, the first one was loud and clear. Pain filled Marian's right arm as she felt the bullet go through her limb. She screamed in pain as she spun around her left hand holding tightly to the wound she had received and watched with wide fearful eyes as the two dark suited men from before emerged from the tree line in front of them. And the smaller one of the top held in his gloved hands and gun. The panic that ensued was frightening for her as she ran straight into the trees behind the RV, to where she knew where the portal was, to where she knew she could hide for a moment before coming back for Sierra and leaving the planet for good. Her heartbeat was beating and pulsing in time with her wound. Her dark red glittering blood trailing and slipping through her left hands fingers as she struggled to keep pressure on the wound as she ran dodging trees and rocks. Her eyes bright alight with fear and terror for her life as she ran, with the two men close behind her and a very angry Samantha close behind.

as sierra stood up from the bed and quickly made her way on wobbly feet and weak legs through the kitchen area and gripped the front screen door and yanked it opened to the sight of chaos. Her friends were rushing quickly fear clear on most of there faces, anger on some, and sheer terror on a few. Her brother drake was absolutely terrified of what was happening. Another gunshot rang out but far from them, though it didn't stop many of the group from ducking there heads.

"Hurry! Get inside!"

She shouted to them, her voice ringing clear in the night air. Her body numb as she heard another shout of pain from deeper in the trees. The voice was Marian and shortly after was Sam's yell of anger. Two more quick gunshots rang out. Sierra panicked slightly counting everyone as they quickly made their way inside. Eleven, there were only eleven people in the RV. There were fourteen at the party counting herself and Marian. Sam and Marian were missing still their shouts still ringing out from the trees.

"What happened!"

She asked Tim quickly as she looked outside the still open screen door. He cleared his throat his face stone still, slight fear was in his eyes but mostly worry.

"The two men in black guy's you told us about today came, and they threatened Marian if she didn't leave right away and well she ran off with them shooting at her."

He blinked putting his hands through his short hair as he went on.

"Sam went and ran after them, I think she grabbed one of the grill tools and ran after them in the trees."

Sierra grabbed a few locks of her hair in worry as her bare feet began to pace back and forth as her mind yelled at her to go after them, while another half of her mind screamed at her to stay where it was safe. After she heard another shout of anger from Sam coming from the trees behind the RV she came to a decision.

"I gotta go help them."

She said suddenly. Everyone in the RV immediately told her not to, to not risk her life trying to be a hero. She wasn't going to stand a chance against two strange otherworldly men. She quickly pulled her clothes that she had worn earlier that day over her still moist swimsuit. Throwing her undergarments into her small light blue satchel bag, noticing that her suitcase and belongings were missing.

" where's my stuff?"

She asked tim, looking at him his face creased in frustration.

" i dunno i think Marien got all of your stuff when she and got you inside while you were sleeping."

Sierra nodded put her shoes on and slung her bag around herself and began to head out the door. She didn't know how she didn't see this coming, maybe if she hadn't said anything earlier about it this wouldn't be happening now. She gave everyone a small sad smile and a determined look as she spoke to them for the last time until she came back five months later.

"I'm sorry that this didn't go how I wanted but I want you all to know that if I don't come back tonight, that you're all the most important people in my life."

She said before she ran out the door and followed the sounds of Samantha and Marian's shouts of anger and pain. The few gunshots that rang out made her grow fearful and doubtful as she ran through the trees quickly, adrenaline running through her veins as the second time that day. Her feet felt like they were hardly touching the leaf and twig covered ground as she leaped over fallen trees and tree roots. Her chest burning and aching with guilt as she made her way to two of the people she cared for. All the while a single thought rang through her mind

'I fucking jinxed it'


	11. Chapter 10: goodbye earth and farewell normality

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sierra, Iris and Rosanna learn of a new ability the three have when working in sync with each other. Marian leaves for connection with Sierra leaving Samantha and the other's with a less than stellar goodbye. Marian does something Sierra and the two demons are less than happy with, after recent events sierra thinks over her life and gains two birds out of it. romancing an alien via rick rolling happens and impromptu dances all leading to a good night of rest that is not at all ominous.

Sierra called out to Samantha and Marian as she ran through the trees, a few of the branches whipped across the sides of her cheeks leaving small cuts. Her feet seemed to barely touch the ground as she ran, to her it felt like she was flying through the trees and the underbrush of it all with how quickly she was running. Sierra shouted as she broke through to the clearing that Sam and Marian were. The two near identical men stood in the clearing a gun held tightly in the gloved hand of the shorter while the other seemed to be struggling to fight back against Samantha. Marian was pressed up against a small thinner tree, her left hand pressed up against her right arm. The pained look on her face was clear even in the dark of the night. Samantha had in her hands a grill fork that had something dripping a slight teal color from the tips of it.

"Marian! Sam!"

Sierra shouted out as she dove herself at the shorter of the two men. Anger and adrenaline fueling her as she wrestled the man to the ground causing him to make a 'oof' sound as she began grappling the gun from his tight hold. The man grunted in pain as she punched his face as hard as she could and threw the gun far away from his reach. He growled in anger at her action and forced her onto her back and his face contorted into one of anger gripped his hands around her neck effectively strangling her. Sierra's eyes went wide as she kicked about and clawed at his gloved hands, her nails managing to break through the thin leather gloves that he wore and digging deep into his hands. She could hear Marian and Sam call out to her in fear and terror as she began to feel her movements grow more sluggish.

'Kid! Please don't fucking do this to us after all of this time!'

Iris cried out in her mind, the shout making a pang of pain to shoot to the front of her head.

'Please Sierra don't give up yet we can take him on just let us help!'

Rosanna begged out to her fear and genuine concern in her voice. Sierra felt herself going numb as she remembered Michael, and the memory from when she had seen his bruised neck, how angry she felt at remembering how he must have been treated. How unfair everything must have been for him up until the day he died, hanging on a rope from a tree. She felt a rekindled energy as she began to fight back against the man above her. If she could even call him a man with how dark black his eyes were, how inhuman he acted and looked. How his dark eyes seemed to look right through her, she grew enraged at him her hands balling into fists and hitting with all of her strength into the temple of his head. She screamed out her eyes burning in rage as she felt his hands loosen slightly and she kicked him hard in the nuts. Intent to hurt the man clear in her eyes as she leaned at his face his hands losing there hold of her as she bit down onto his nose as hard as she could, her eyes ablaze as she felt fear, anger and a strange calm fill her as she let loose with the urge to hurt the man before her.

"Get"

She began as he pulled away his hands holding his nose and the cry of inhuman pain slipping his lips.

"The"

She continued as she balled her right fist tightly and swung at the space in-between his eyes.

"Fuck"

she stood up above the man quickly as she began to grab his suit and with a strength unknown to her she lifted him up a good foot into the air, her eyes burned painfully but she didn't dare stop as she punched the man before her again.

"Away"

She hissed as she hit him again, watching as strange teal blue colored blood seeped from his now broken nose and the new cuts he was getting from her right hooks. Her ring probably causing the skin on his face to break open.

"From me"

she went on her voice beginning to sound strange and warped as she lifted him up again from the ground and prepared to throw him into the trees around the area.

"And my family"

she growled out as she threw the man into the trees in front of her, a sickening crack ringing out from the man as his body made impact with the trees. He cried out shortly and curled into a ball as he fell to the ground his back seemingly bent inward. Sierra breathe heavily as she turned her attention to the last man standing.

His eyes widened at the sight of her, her eyes wild, hair a mess, and the look of pure calm hatred on her face. He backed away immediately and ran off into the trees surrounding them. It was silent for a moment aside from the quiet sharp pain filled intakes of air from Marian and the now weak crawling form of the shorter black suited man.

"Sierra?"

Marian called out to her, her voice hoarse from her yelling. Sierra turned to face the daemon and Marian gasped in shock at the sight of the human. Sierra stood stock straight up and breathed heavily as the feeling of adrenaline still pumped through her body for some reason, her eyes burned greatly and she swore she could see a strange glow at the edges of her sight but couldn't put her finger as to why. She felt strangely calm and peaceful yet rage-filled all the while. She spoke giving the daemon a relieved smile before she quickly crossed the clearing and pulled the other into her arms.

"Marian! Your alright! We're so glad."

Alarm bells rang throughout Marian and Samantha at the strange warped sound of Sierra's voice. It sounded like three voices spoke all at once, each one layer on top of one another. Creating a strange surreal warped sound that her voice had become, Marian old only look fearfully into the strange ethereal lilac, navy blue and blue green hazel eyes that looked up at her. She hissed in pain as Sierra squeezed her tightly her right arm screaming in pain from her bullet wound. Sierra pulled away at the sound her eyes growing concerned as she looked her over.

"Marian?, are you alright?"

She asked her eyes scanning over her body feverishly in search of what ever was causing her pain. Once her eyes caught the sight of her left hand clutching tightly to her upper arm where it still her deep red and violet blood spilled down from it. Her eyes grew dark and enraged before she quickly shot a glare to the man who had managed to crawl himself halfway into the trees around them. Sharp wheezes of pain filled intakes came from his somewhat twisted form as he struggled to haul himself deeper into the woods. Sierra's eyes grew angry and cold as she quickly walked to him and gripped his left ankle and began to pull him from the woods an inhuman growl slipping past her lips as she did so. He cried out in pain at the sudden yank on his ankle, the sick popping sound coming from it as Sierra dragged him out of the brush.

"And where do you think your going?"

She seethed out her eyes glowing brightly and burning with hatred as she reached towards his head and gripped it tightly in her right hand.

"Sierra! Stop!"

Samantha yelled as she rushed to pull Sierra away from the man.

"Don't hurt him anymore you've already done enough to him!"

She shouted her face concerned for the person wearing her girlfriends face that was practically oozing with the intent to kill emanating from her. She could pick out the sounds of iris and Rosanna's voice speaking in sync with Sierra. For the first time in their relationship Samantha felt scared of what Sierra was capable of. Marian winced from the bullet wound but quickly went to help Samantha pull Sierra away from the well and truly terrified man.

"Sierra! Snap out of it!"

She shouted as she and Sam finally managed to pull the girl a good three feet away from the man. Sam was the first to speak up.

"what the hell were you going to do to him!, this is nothing like you hun!"

She yelled concern and worry clear on her face, Sierra's face twisted into one of concern and a calm Resignation as she spoke.

"We're fine"

the voice was still there and made chills of genuine fear go down Marian's back as she listened to it.

"We were just going to make sure that he"

she spat out the last word and sent a venomous glare towards the man who was desperately crawling into the tree line now.

"Wouldn't hurt either of you again."

Her face grew soft again as she looked up at Samantha face. The strange color her eyes had become were bright and seemed to draw her attention to her.

"Hurt us? Sierra hun I'm fine Marian needs medical help right now. Please just ignore him I know you want to get payback but trust me when I say that you'll regret it afterwards."

She begged placing her hands on her significant others shoulders, her green blue eyes filled with worry for the woman standing before her. Sierra opened her mouth to speak but closed it and instead nodded.

"We understand i- we'll take care of him then."

Her voice wobbled slightly for a moment in the middle of her sentence, sierra's normal voice had rung clear for only a mere second but it still had been there.

She shrugged Samantha's hands before grabbing the back of the man's suit jacket and with a strength that Samantha had never seen Sierra ever show lifted him up and dragged him farther into the very tree line he had been trying to crawl into, with the ease like the man weighed nothing to her. She laid him down gently onto the ground in the trees and walked back to the clearing her face calm and relaxed all the while.

"There now he's out of our minds, and the next time he tries to hurt either of you I'll make sure to get rid of him."

She said in the strange ethereal voice she had. Sam was the first to speak again.

"Hun are you alright?"

Her face was full of confused concern. Sierra blinked at her before smiling warmly at her.

"we're fine why do you ask?"

Sam shook her head in disagreement.

"no your not fine, is iris and Rosanna forcing you to act like this? Because if they are I swear I'll make them regret doing so."

Sam threatened her eyes alight and full of concern. Sierra shook her head before giving her another warm smile.

"iris and Rosanna aren't forcing me to do anything Honeybun, we just kinda started working together is all."

She said her smiled growing a little bit wider and her face relaxing as she spread her arms out on either side of herself.

"We've never felt this calm before!"

She said excitement clear in her strange warped voice. Sam blinked in surprise before she spoke again.

"so all three of you are doing this?"

Sierra nodded her warm smile still on her face.

"And your fine with that?, I'm asking Sierra here not all three of you."

She asked her eyes concerned and worried. She remembered what Marian had told her earlier that night, what she had to do when they got to connection. Sierra's warm smile never left as she answered in her regular voice.

"Sam I promise you that I'm okay with this!, I feel great like this!"

She exclaimed her eyes dulling and losing the lilac and navy blue glow that had been in them before. Her eyes widened then her face contorting into one of despair.

"shit wait fuck!, I wasn't trying to do that."

Her eyes grew more dim until the light that had been glowing in her eyes disappeared as her voice filled with guilt.

She sighed after a moment and looked up at the two a look of regret on her face.

"Sorry about that guys."

She said quietly her voice back to normal and Marian let out a sigh of relief at the sound of it alone.

"Sierra it's alright, you just"

She paused wincing at the pain thrumming in her arm again.

"you just worried us there for a moment is all."

She said leaning herself against the trunk of a thin tree her eyes filled with relief and pain. Sierra and Sam swore at the sight of her in pain and rushed to her.

"Shit Marian I'm so fucking sorry! I just when I heard the gunshots I got so angry and scared for the two of you."

Sierra rambled on as she carefully moved the daemon's left hand to look at the severity of the bullet wound. She paled at the sight of the nickel sized hole in her arm, the smell of copper thick in the air all the while. It had been a clean shot, the bullet having passed through the others arm in one go. Sierra had to suppress the hysterical chuckle that bubble up in her throat at the image of Marian keeping the hole as a souvenir and scaring children all the while with it. Her eyes welled up as she felt helpless in what to do with the situation as it was. She had no idea what to do about a bullet wound, did she need to sew it shut or something? Did she have to bandage it shut? Her mind raced with millions of medical based questions before Marian spoke up.

"Sierra Sam, relax I'll be fine. I'll take care of it later, we have to leave now."

She said her eyes tired and full of regret as she spoke.

"What?!, like hell we have to go now! You got a fucking hole in your arm from being shot at! We have to do at least something for you before we go!"

Sierra pleaded looking at the daemon, her eyes watery and fearful of the worst things that could come with a wound of that caliber.

'It'll get infected'

her mind hissed out to her, paranoia flooding her as she took another glance at the wound.

'It'll get infected then it'll have to be amputated if it gets to bad'

she felt tears begin to spill down her cheeks as she felt her breathing pick up, her heart hammering in her chest at the mention.

'Or worse she'll get sick, so sick that she'll be bedridden'

she thought to herself as Samantha shouted suddenly to her.

"Sierra! Relax hun! Marian has something back on connection that can fix it up a bit before it gets bad enough."

Sam's voice was calming and gentle as she spoke.

"She'll be fine okay?"

She asked holding Sierra by her shoulders even as the others legs seemed to become jello underneath her body. Relief filled her even as she realized the next problem. She had to leave earth, She wasn't ready to go yet. wasn't ready to leave the only home she ever knew but just by the look that Marian was giving her alone it was clear, They had to go and now.

"Sam I'll be back I promise."

She said taking in deep calming breaths as she spoke. Tears were in her eyes as she looked into Samantha's eyes.

"I love you more than anything hun."

She said quickly before pulling the other into a hug and pressing a gentle kiss onto her lips.

"Please let Roderick know that I'll miss him when I'm gone."

She asked as Marian pushed herself off of the tree and moved towards the middle of the clearing.

"Come on Sierra we have to hurry, I know you want to have a more lengthy goodbye but who knows if those two are going to send back up?"

Her violet eyes grew worried.

"We have to leave before more come here"

she urged as she watched from her spot in the clearing. Sierra nodded apprehensively before she gave Sam one last hug and kiss, trying her bests to pour as much love in her actions as she stepped away and joined up with Marian before the two began to walk deeper into the woods. Sierra waving goodbye to Samantha her eyes filled with tears and a sad smile on her face as Samantha held back her own and soon in a matter of moments the two of them were gone for her sight. She sighed and quietly spoke to herself as if to any higher being that would listen.

"please let the two of them be safe and sound when on connection."

Sierra wiped at her face as she tried to hold back the flood of tears that were welling up inside her. Marian walked awkwardly beside her her mind numb as she vaguely remembered where the portal was. It was silent between the two of them for a few minutes as the two of them walked on. Marian eventually sighed before she spoke up, breaking the silence around them.

"Sierra"

she paused glancing quickly to the other to see if she gave any sign of hearing her. The dirty blonde didn't give any indication aside from her watery eyes glancing upward at her before looking back down.

"It's okay to be upset about this"

She paused her heart feeling heavy as she spoke.

"I would feel the same if I was leaving the only place I've ever known too."

Sierra was silent for a moment then slowly at first her face seemed to crumble in on itself as she leaned herself onto Marian and sobbed out quietly as she wrapped her arms around herself as if in an attempt to bring herself back to some semblance of calm. Marian watched the other worriedly before she stepped away quickly and uncapchaloged a medical kit that she had stored among the semi virtual cards. She was quick and hasty as she searched with her one remaining good arm for the gauze and bandages. Sierra sat up against a nearby tree, watching with guilt ridden watery eyes as the daemon began to somewhat bandage herself up. She sniffed loudly before speaking shakily from the torrent of emotions that was overwhelming her at the moment.

"You had a first aid kit? Why didn't you use it earlier?"

Marian grunted in pain as she tugged hard with one end of the elastic bandage that she had wrapped around the thick amount of gauze she had patched on both sides of her bullet wound.

"I was trying to get us out of harms way before we could have time to recuperate back on connection."

She said hissing in pain as the bandage tightened around her arm before she began to wrap the two ends of the bandage around it and then tying it shut.

"It's not much, but it'll work for the time being."

She said as she flexed her right hand slowly wincing as she felt the pain rippling throughout the arm. She pulled out a large piece of looked like a cloth bag. Sierra was silent at her answer before she wiped her eyes and shook her head in an attempt to make herself snap out of her fit of crying.

"Sorry for breaking down on you like that Marian I guess everything that happened right now just kinda came crashing down on me."

She said laughing weakly as she pulled herself up onto her feet, wincing as she watched the other unfold the cloth bag to reveal it was in fact a black cloth sling. She sucked in a sharp breath at the sight before she spoke abruptly.

"shit, please don't tell me your not going to be able to use your arm ever again hun."

She chuckled a little hysterically at the sight of the other as she slipped her right arm into the sling. Marian snorted at her words before calmly placed the kit back into a captcha card and turned to the human.

"No sierra I promise you my arm isn't hurt that badly, I can still move it so that good."

She glanced away quickly as she heaved a sigh as she spoke.

"my arm just hurts like the dickens right now when I move it however so I will have to get it checked out when we make it to the capital. I'll just have to take it easy when we're on our way there."

She said giving Sierra a reassuring smile, Sierra gave a smile of relief at her words. Relief flooding through her as Marian soothes her concerns about the wound.

'Kid you alright there?'

Iris's voice spoke up suddenly and Sierra blinked in shock. The two had been so quiet since the strange incident from before. The three of them seemingly had become one in a way, their minds melded and in time with one another, moving and thinking the same things all at once. It had been odd and surreal to say the least, something Sierra wasn't a hundred percent sure she wanted to do it again.

'Yeah I'm alright, just a little overwhelmed with everything that's been happening right now is all.'

She told the demon who gave her a sense of agreement.

"Sierra, we're here."

Marian's voice cut through her thoughts and she snapped her head up to look around the small clearing they had made their way into. She looked at Marian confused at the lack of anything even remotely looking like a portal of sorts. Marian chuckled at her reaction before she gently took her right hand in her left and led her to the center of the clearing and spoke softly as she began to lead sierras hand into the air.

"The portal isn't visible if that what your wondering."

She was gentle and slow as she pulled Sierra's hand into what felt like water in a way. The dirty blonde's eyes widened at the sight of her hand disappearing in thin air and she wiggles the fingers she could still feel and looked on in curiosity at the sight.

"Whoa"

She whispered to herself as she slowly pulled her hand back from the rippling surface and looked at her hand in wonder before looking at the area it had been mere moments before.

"It's not gonna hurt is it?"

She asked looking to Marian, who's only response was a warm and gentle smile and a quick shake of her head. Sierra blinked in wonder at the information before she carefully put her arm into the space before her watching as her entire arm seemed to disappear before her very eyes, even as she looked on at the area before her. She could see and feel the quiet thrum of energy that she was in front of, there was a faint tingling on her arm that made she hesitate before she slowly looked to Marian again who simply smiled and nodded her head towards the area.

"go on, it's safe."

Sierra didn't anymore of an incentive before she pulled her arm out and dove her head into the area before her. There was no sci-fi sounds of the typical portal sounds, nor was there a bright light when she pulled her head into it. She felt a tickling sensation all over her face as she looked around the area her face was in. It was bright and seemingly mid-afternoon where she was, white barked birch trees and dark elms and oak trees surrounded her. She glanced up at the sky and gaped wide eyed at the sight of three faint moon shapes in the sky. Memories of the days when the moon was bright and full and visible in the middle of the day rang through her mind as she slowly pulled her head back and breathed out breathlessly Marian chuckled beside from where she stood on her right side. Sierra looked at her wide eyed surprise at the sight she had seen on the other side of the portal still going through her.

"There was three moons over there."

She said breathlessly her eyes shining with sheer wonder and curiosity. Marian nodded at the mention of the moons that had indeed been in the sky.

"Must be a full moon night then if you were able to see them in the middle of the day."

Sierra blinked at her words.

"wait you knew it was the middle of the day over there? How?"

She asked confused at the others words. Marian chuckled and gave her a warm smile before she began to slip into the portals surface as she spoke.

"I've lived here all my life and have had to learn the time differences on a good dozen other planets Sierra."

Her words became faint as she disappeared into the portal fully. Sierra could only blink and smile at the sheer feeling of anticipation that went through her. She was going to do it, she really was leaving earth. She was leaving all she ever knew for five years and was going to an alien planet that would be her new home for the next five years of her life. Sierra took one last look around at the area around her and smiled wistfully at the sight of the forest at night. She began to shuffle her feet as she readied herself to walk through the portal but froze as her foot bumped into a small palm sized rock that was on the ground. She looked at it in the dark, her eyes long since gotten adjusted to the dark around her. She leaned down picked up the flat smooth gray rock and pocketed it into her jacket pocket and smiled softly at the weight as she finally walked through the portal and left behind all she had ever know in her life without looking back.

Sierra had been looking around at everything as she and Marian had begun to walk through the woods around them. The human had only been on the planet for five minutes and she already felt oddly welcomed by the sheer amount of nature around them. Marian watched Sierra as she had giggled and laughed at the amount of nature around them. The human seemed to have had a switch flicked on inside her that made her act this way. She looked happy and at peace with the change in her life. At least Marian thought she did, she couldn't help but smile at the sight before the guilt of what was to come weighed heavy in her mind.

"Sierra? I"

Marian winced as her voice cracked harshly when she tried to speak around the ball of guilt that was forming in her throat. Did she have to do this?, couldn't she just leave Sierra the way she was now?.

'No I can't, I know what will happen if I do.'

She thought to herself as Sierra looked at her, a look of curiosity on her face. Her eyes shining brightly in the afternoon sunlight, the guilt grew even bigger in her as she watched Sierra momentarily breathless at the sight. Before Sierra tilted her head slightly her messy hair falling around her neck like a blanket.

"I need to do something real quick, but I have to warn you it's not going to be pleasant."

She spoke her voice quiet and solemn as she spoke. Sierra looked at her confusion and concern clear in her face. Marian took a shaky breath in before she spoke again.

"Sierra I have to remove iris and Rosanna from you."

Silence, a dead quiet silence filled the area between the two at Marian's words. Sierra could only blink in confusion and shock before a laugh of disbelief and denial slipped her lips.

"Ha good one Marian, really pulled the wool over my eyes there really got me ther-"

"Sierra I'm being serious here."

Marian said her tone serious and clear of any joking tone that Sierra May have been hoping to hear. Sierra was silent at her words, a deep primal fear filling her at the tone in the daemon's words. She took a step back, her heart beginning to beat fast in her chest as Marian rose her hands slowly into the air, an attempt to calm the other down to soothe her growing panic in some way.

'RUN, RUN KID, FUCKING BOOK IT!!'

Iris yelled loudly into Sierra's mind, a deep throbbing headache forming at the sound immediately. The dirty blonde tried to move her legs but her entire body felt numb and exhausted from all of the events that had happened mere moments before. Marian quickly rushed at Sierra, the human shouting in genuine panic as her legs suddenly kick started and she began to run away from the other only to feel the sensation of being lifted by Marian's one arm. She kicked and yelled at the feeling, panic filling her mind at the inevitable action that Marian was about to act upon her. She could faintly hear Marian over her loud shouting trying to calm her down with words that would normally soothe her.

'Get away get away!, Sierra we have to get away!'

Rosanna's panicked voice shouted out into her mind, the sound doing no help to the painful headache that was permeating in her head. Eventually Marian sat down holding Sierra tightly to her chest, speaking to her softly in an attempt to snap her out of her panic that she had worked herself into.

"Shhh Sierra, please listen to me dear I don't want to do it either but I have to do it. If I don't it'll hurt you and the two of them farther down the road."

Her voice was calming and soft as she spoke to the younger woman.

"Please I'm sorry that I frightened you by telling you, but please understand I need you to calm down."

She went on her left thumb rubbing gentle circles on the back of sierras arms that were trapped behind the others arm. Sierra slowly at first took in small shallow breaths in an attempt to calm down, her eyes shut tightly as she focused on calming herself. After a few minutes she opened her eyes her body lax and exhausted after her panic attack. Marian still spoke soft and calming nothings to her as she held her. After a minute the daemon went quiet before she spoke again.

"I'm sorry I scared you, but I have to tak- remove them from you before it's to late for me too."

She spoke softly as she slowly moved her left arm away from the hold she had on the other before slowly placing her hand on top of sierra's head right where the most pain was still throbbing the most in her head. Sierra winced but slowly shut her eyes and nodded slowly. She could feel Marian relaxing behind her in relief before she spoke again.

"If you want to say goodbye to the two of them before I start I'll give you some time to."

Sierra was silent before smiling to herself a watery smile tears beginning to well up in her eyes again, she quickly nodded and she could feel Marian nod in understanding before she began to stand up from behind her to walk away and give her some space. Sierra panicked briefly and grabbed a hold of The daemon's left wrist before she spoke quickly.

"Please i-its Okay If you sit behind me I just"

she struggled with her words, her mind rushing a mile an hour before she quickly finished her sentence.

"I don't want to be alone right now when I say goodbye to them."

Her words were tearful as she spoke, her eyes from behind her glasses were large and tearful. Shining like a pair of green-blue jewels that had thin lines of hazel throughout them. Marian gulped at the sight before her, her mind screaming at her for scaring and bringing the person before her to tears.

"Sierra"

She began softly, kneeling down onto her knees next to the human.

"There not going to be gone forever, I'm only taking them out of you and bringing them out into the physical world."

Sierra's eyes widened at her words before she gave her a tearful look of relief and her body sagged into hers.

"Oh thank messiahs, you have no idea how scared we got for a second there."

She said as she straightened up before she leaned against Marian her eyes closing shut for a few moments that to the daemon felt as if they lasted for a few seconds. Then Sierra spoke her eyes looking up into hers a look of hesitation on her face before it smoothed into one of determination as she spoke.

"Alright, we're ready."

Marian nodded placing her left hand onto the top of Sierra's head and she quietly spoke the quick mantra she knew that would allow her to perform the act. The palm of her hand began to glow brightly, her eyes alighting as she poured her magic into the act. Hoping that she would be able to finish it quickly before Sierra changed her mind. Then Sierra began to scream.

'Fuck.'

Sierra didn't feel much at first when Marian's palm began to glow, it was when her eyes had begun to glow the brightest that the human had ever seen them, that the pain wracked her mind. It was indescribable to say the least, it felt as if long spider leg thin fingers had begun delving into her mind. She could faintly hear loud screaming that she had gotten confused by until she realized where it was coming from. It was coming from her even as she felt like she was physically disconnected from her body. The area around her being becoming surrounded by a pure white light unlike anything she had ever seen before. It was near heavenly in its appearance, then colors had begun melting into the white. As if the white was a type of impossibly clear liquid that was both colorless and opaque at the same time. Drops of lilac and soft gentle pink bled into the white around her, swirling and dissipating like drops of food coloring or water color paints. Then she saw the two glowing forms in front of her, they both distinctly looked feminine to her. The lilac form was thin and a foot taller than the other and it felt so familiar to her, the more navy blue form standing beside the lilac was thicker in appearance and a bit shorter. They both felt so familiar to her that she found herself calling out to them.

"Iris? Rosanna?"

Her voice seemed to echo around the area as they two grew closer to her a feeling of relief and joy emanating from them both.

"Kid!"

Iris's voice echoed from the lilac phantasmal form before her while Rosanna's came quickly from the navy blue one.

"Sierra dear, I suppose this is our last time together?"

Her voice was as calm and polite as ever. Sierra could faintly feel tears rolling down her cheeks as she wrapped her arms around the twos necks, a sob slipping from her beings lips. The sensation that they were holding her gently surrounded her form as she began to feel them slowly at first but then quicker as they began to fade away.

"What's happening?!"

She shouted out into her mind fearfully at the sight of the two leaving her.

"Don't worry kid we'll see you on the other side of this, we promise."

Iris said her voice growing faint.

"Yes dear we promise that we still be here for you albeit in a less spiritual way now."

Rosanna's voice grew quieter still as the both grew fainter and fainter. Then in a bright flash of blue a third form of a sea blue appeared four yards away from them. The sight alone causing sounds of surprise and shock to slip from the two fading forms of iris and Rosanna.

"W-who's that?"

Sierra asked quickly before she became taken aback by the sudden jerk of movement from the new form.

"Kid you need to wake up!"

Iris grew panicked and worried as her now barely visible hands took a hold of the humans shoulders and shook her quickly. She shook her head confused.

"but I'm not asleep, I can feel myself screaming right now. I can feel myself gripping at Marian's arm, I'm awake."

She said concerned for herself and where her mind currently was. Rosanna gave of a sense of dread that was palpable around her at Sierra's words.

"Sierra you have to snap out of it!, your dissociating. Your not supposedly have come here!"

Sierra could feel herself slowly fading back into herself, the sensation of her lungs and throat aching as she screamed loudly. The feeling of the wind blowing through her hair and the crunch of twigs underneath her legs as she felt herself struggle in Marian's hold.

"We'll see you soon kid just wait for us!"

Iris's fading voice called out to her one last time before finally it was gone. Sierra breathed heavily her screaming finally ending as she leaned into Marian who slowly lifted their hand away from her head. Sierra looked up briefly her body and mind exhausted beyond anything she had ever felt before as she took in the sight of the three glowing luminescent orbs that floated above her hand. Two were iris and Rosanna's colors, but the third. The third was the bright sea blue that she had seen before. The last thing Sierra saw before she passed out into Marian's chest was the faint sound of Marian asking if she was alright and of these three bright glowing orbs.

Sierra groaned softly as she woke up, her eyes having glued themselves together in her sleep.

"Ugh what happened?"

She grunted our painfully Her head feeling numb and full of cotton from what she could vaguely remember from before. She eyes snapped open then, the gunshots, the fight against the men in black. The everything that had occurred the night prior washed over her in an instant. She held back a wince at the memory of iris and Rosanna being removed from her mind, how painful it had been, how much it had felt like she lost a large part of herself. She looked around quickly taking note that it was dark out now, the three moons in the sky bright and full. The stars in the sky were in different positions than on earth. Strange and new possible constellations filled sierras mind as she looked at the night sky with awe. The sky was amazingly clear, the stars shone brightly and eye catching.

"Sierra! Your awake!"

Marian's voice broke through the humans ongoing thoughts causing her to snap her head towards the sound of her voice. It was then Sierra noticed several things in that moment most dealing with Marian herself. The daemon had fully shed her human disguise and instead revealed her true appearance, goat ears and all. She seemingly towered over Sierra by a good foot, her eyes a piercing violet and her hair a mess of long black hair that looked much more lush and full than it had been before on earth. Her skin was the strange gray violet it had always been whenever she slipped a little of her disguise off on earth, barely visible muscles showed itself in her arms as she quickly walked to Sierra her hair moving along the top to reveal the faintest shine of a set of horns. She was wearing a simple logo-less black tank top and a pair of brown well worn animal hide shorts. Sierra looked at her quizzically as she took in her appearance. Marian seems to flush deeply at the sight of Sierra being taken aback. After a moment Sierra shook her head and rubbed at her eyes in an attempt to wipe away whatever grime and gunk that had formed in her eyes while she had been asleep.

"How long was I out for?"

She asked genuinely at she wiped the sleep from her eyes.

"Heh well you surprisingly enough have been asleep for only four hours."

Sierra blinked at the answer a bit shocked at the short amount of time.

"Really?"

She asked Marian as she sat beside Her. She glanced towards her and looked at the small campfire that was in the center of the small clearing they were in, leaning her back against the trees behind her. Marian nodded giving her a shrug.

"Yeah, not to surprised that you slept that long."

She paused giving the human a small sad smile.

"I mean you went through a lot of shit before we left earth and then well what happened after with iris and Rosanna."

She said the last part of her sentence, guilt clear on her face as she brought up the two.

"Speaking of"

Sierra began looking all around the clearing curiously.

"Where are they?"

Marian took a sharp intake of air through her teeth the look of guilt on her face growing even more at Sierra's question.

"Uh, y'see I wanted to give the three of them time to adjust to being physical again so I just left a spare map and compass for them and kinda left?"

Marian spoke the last few words slowly and hesitantly giving a sheepish look to the other who only blinked and gave her a blank expression before she slowly got to her feet and began to walk away from the small makeshift campsite.

"Whoa whoa, where are you going?!"

Marian said quickly as she quickly got to her feet stumbling slightly before she quickly went after the other. Sierra whipped around as Marian grew close to her, her eyes ablaze with a barely concealed anger in them before she reached her right index finger and poked at the others chest her teeth gritted together as she struggled to speak calmly.

"Don't you dare fucking follow me Marian-"

"it's varies"

"what?"

She asked raising an eyebrow at the sudden correction from the other who looked away sheepishly, the look of regret clear on her face.

"My real name, it's varies."

Marian now varies said her eyes going up to Sierra's. Sierra took in a slow breath, her right hand dropping to her side as she ran her left hand into her tangled hair. Her body felt hot and numb, she could smell the remaining lake water that was still trapped into the swimsuit she wore under her clothes. She felt like her entire body was tacky and sticky as she sighed deeply in genuine frustration. She took in a deep breath before she slowly spoke the strained calm clear in her voice.

"So your telling me, mind you at the worst possible time that your real name isn't Marian?"

She hissed the last part out as she rung her hands throughout her hair. Varies shrugged hesitantly before she nodded slowly the look of guilt clear on her face. She took in another slow inhale of air before she slowly let it out and asked quietly

"why the fuck did you even go about making up a fake name?"

Marian's face grew a dark violet at that before she spoke.

"It was so the government on earth wouldn't know who I was, so that it would give me more time to find you."

She said her eyes glancing away briefly as her face filled with guilt at her words. Sierra sighed softly at the answer, anger still thrummed through her eyes but she relaxed her body as she looked at the others guilt ridden face.

"Yeah alright I get that but that doesn't give you a good enough reason to fucking leave iris and Rosanna behind!"

She growled out her eyes burning in anger as she sent a harsh glare to varies, who reared her head back a look of shock and concern on her features.

"Sierra, I-I I'm sorry I did that but you have to understand that we're currently working on a limited amount of time currently."

Her eyes grew desperate as she went on.

"Please understand, we have to move as quick as possible before I'm gone from my job for too long."

Sierra rose an eyebrow at that her ball of fire in her gut fizzling away slightly as she took in the look of desperation in varies's face.

"Alright"

She sighed rubbing her face with her right hand, exasperated at the situation and the guilt knowing that she would have to wait a little while longer to see the two people in her life that had literally been with her all of her life.

"I'll trust you with this, but please if there's any other lies or secret's that you haven't told me that are probably life changing you better tell me them now."

She said looking at the black haired woman with a look of tired frustration on her face. Varies nodded smiling warmly before pausing to think briefly before she spoke again.

"thank you Sierra, and I don't have any secrets to tell you at the moment aside from one little thing."

She said as her cheeks flushed slightly.

"oh?, and what exactly would that be?"

The dirty blonde asked raising her eyebrow at the other. Varies only gave her a small sheepish smile as before she answered her.

"I love to crochet."

Sierra snorted at her words, before she finally devolved into laughter before gently shoving the others left shoulder with her hand.

"you dork, that's not what I meant!"

She chuckled out before she walked back towards the campfire and sat before it. Varies chuckled sheepishly at her action.

"well isn't that what you like about me?"

She said sitting herself across the other, her eyes taking in the sight of sierras tired and relaxed body as she leaned against the tree behind her.

"Maybe? Maybe I like you because your unique or something like that?, or maybe it's because you feel so familiar to me?"

She sighed out closing her eyes as she spoke. Varies rose an eyebrow at her words before she spoke up again confusion clear in her voice.

"Familiar?, what do you mean by that?"

Sierra was silent her eyes remained closed as varies spoke up again.

"Sierra?, Sierra did you hear me?"

She sighed when the now asleep human gave no answer. She chuckled softly before she stood up and went about setting up the rest of their campsite.

Sierra was grateful for the lack of dreams that night, only a patchwork of short dreams that ended and shifted into one another was all she could remember. Faded memories of nature and flesh fusing together into fantastical creatures before her, what would be nightmarish to others but would be seen as a normal dream to her fell into place around her. Foggy images of giant black sperm whales crying out about oil being the end of them, twisted and frayed glimpses of trees that were bore giant fleshy sacklike fruits that held full grown deer inside their partially see-through fleshy prison. Dreams like this were normal for her, twisted and warped dreamscapes always filled her mind whenever she feel into a deep and exhausted bout of sleep. When she began to hear sounds of loud birdsong above her and the chattering of woodland critters did she slowly began to wake up. Her eyes were blurry as she opened them, her glasses nowhere on her face and her vision bleary as she rubbed at her face. Everything was bright and alive around her as she sat up from the sleeping bag that she had been asleep in.

'I Don't remember sleeping in a sleeping bag?'

She shrugged at the sight of the bag and simply chalked it up to varies most likely putting her in it last night. She felt beside her sleeping bag for her glasses and succeeded in her fingers bumping into the familiar worn plastic frames of her glasses. She quickly unfolded them with a single forceful jerk of her hand before she placed them onto the bridge of her nose. Her vision clearing immediately as she looked through her glasses. She always hated how blind she was without them, how she could hardly see anything without them on.

'Just another downside to being nearsighted, right guys?'

She called out into her mind, thinking momentarily that iris and Rosanna would respond. She slowly realized when no one responded that she was well and truly alone. The pit of anxiety that always followed her seemed to swallow her up at that realization. She was vulnerable, she was just sitting there alone in the woods all alone and without any form of protection. She could feel her breath quickening at the thought, her paranoia was just Messing with her. She told herself as she shut her eyes tightly, trying to Will herself to relax as she forced herself to breathe slowly.

'In and out, in and out. Calm down Sierra, your a Mitchell you can handle this. Your fine, your okay.'

She told herself as she slowly opened her eyes and took in the surroundings around her, her eyes widening in awe at the sight of the several strange small birds that were nesting near the campsite. They were ground nest's from what she could tell, as she looked at the closest of the small birds near her she noted to herself that the nests seemed to made with a type of clay or mud.

"Whoa."

She whispered breathlessly to herself as she slowly slipped out of her sleeping bag and carefully and quietly made her way a little bit closer the the birds nest, pulling her phone out of her jackets front pocket all the while. She took several quick snapshots of the bird and its nest, smiling at how relaxed the bird seemed to be. The urge to try and see if the bird would allow her to pet it came over her, she had begun to reach her hand towards the bird before she had second thoughts on the idea.

'New planet new species new threats'

Her mind reminded her. She pulled her hand back to her chest and just relaxed while taking in the odd sight of the bird. It was about the size of a baseball and looked round like one, it's tiny little head looked like it was close to its body. It had a pair of bright blue eyes unlike anything she had seen in a bird back on earth, it's beak she noted was of the same shape like typical small wild birds. Smooth and no curl at the tip of it, she chalked it up to the species probably having mostly small insects and seeds in its diet. The feathers were the strangest part of it yet, it was brightly colored with a soft light pink and bright yellow speckles dusting it all over its body, Two thin lines of black ran across the birds small wings. Sierra had to smile at the sight of a new creature, animal facts had always been her strong suit. Notes upon mental notes of small interesting facts about any animal or creature were stored in her mind, only to briefly show up when she would present one to a friend or family member. From Facts like about how bulls didn't really get angry at the color red and were more angry at the quick movement, to facts about how butterflies turned into a liquid-like state when in there cocoons only to miraculously change into butterflies. Every single animal or creature tidbit was cherished and savored to her. How lions mainly hunted at night, and how elephants mourned the deaths in their herd. Every single fact she heard that was animal related stuck to her mind like putty, of course when she'd be asked about where the information came from she couldn't always remember the references for her information all the time. She simply took in the information and leave with the knowledge that she had learned something new and exciting. This always had occasionally led to her stepfather arguing with her about how she didn't know everything because of how often she would tell her family her little tidbits of information, she often had forced herself to not correct her parents whenever she heard them tell one another or her little sister a wrong bit of information. At the thought about her family Sierra could feel a weight press down on her heart as she wondered about if Sam told everyone that she had left or not. What would they do?, would they pretend that she had been kidnapped or something?, how would her parents react when they heard about her being spirited away to another planet? She doubted that her mom would believe it and simply think that she was missing, her father could believe it but he would want an explanation at best before he would write it off as the fearful ramblings of terrified twenty year old's. Sierra was careful to sit herself back down onto her sleeping bag as worries and concerns for those back on earth.

"Why did I leave them?"

She whispered to herself as she could feel the bubble of panic beginning to swell up in her again. 

"No your alright Sierra, you chose to leave. Out of everything you could have chose you chose this path in the winding road of your life and your gonna keep pushing on through."

She told herself aloud uncaring if anyone heard her talking to herself, she needed to her herself say it out loud.

"They'll be fine, you can't just start doubting them just because your not able to see them."

She went on standing up again and starting to pace around the long since extinguished campfire.

"If you did that you would be essentially underestimating them. They're your friends, you can trust that they'll handle the situation over there."

Paranoia was beginning to creep into her mind as she continued speaking to herself unconsciously stepping over sticks and small rocks that littered the campsite's floor.

"What if they got hurt or something?, what if one of them ran after you and got lost?, what if-"

she cut herself off taking a more logical approach to the paranoia filled thoughts in her head.

"They wouldn't, and even if they did get lost or hurt their more than capable of helping themselves out."

She hesitated for a second her mind racing with hundreds of scenarios filling her mind, each one worse than the last. Roderick running after her, his calls to her going unheard as she ran ahead of him, him getting lost for weeks in the woods before slowly dying of starvation. The thought chilled her to her core, frightened her beyond belief.

'They're fine, quit getting worked up Sierra.'

She said in her head as she suddenly became hyper aware of everything around her. The smell of bark and leaves in the air, sounds of birdsong and the feel of the gentle wind blowing around her. She was fine, she was okay, everything was fine. Her mind and body felt to big in that moment, as if somehow during her panic it had grown to sizes too large for her mind and conscious. She rubbed her arms up and down in an attempt to calm herself as she strained to listen for any sign of varies. She hated being alone, absolutely despised the sensation. She had gotten more than enough of the taste of loneliness back in elementary school that was for sure. Dulled memories of recess spent alone at the swings and singing song after made up song while pouring her feelings out to the empty air around her.

It may have been a very long time since those years but that didn't mean it hadn't affected her negatively. She had the mentality of a five year old at times she swore, always thinking the best of people without a second thought. Her emotions an incomprehensible tangle that she would often feel was nearly strangling her when she became overwhelmed. Needless to say, those years had pretty much fucked up Her emotions beyond reason. Those long years of bottling everything up until it all finally came pouring out in loud explosive bursts. It had changed an important part of her, what she wasn't a hundred percent sure, but she had the idea that it may just have well been her mental and emotional health. She shook her head, bringing herself out of her darkening thoughts, the shoulda, woulda, coulda's fading away into the back of her mind until she would eventually bring up the courage to even attempt to untangle the mess that was her developmental period of life. She breathed in slowly and exhaled slowly, as she slowed her pacing to a more calmer pace. Calm she was calm, she was so motherfucking calm that even vanilla ice and his dumb movie couldn't break her calm. That was a big fat lie she thought seconds later.

'I would definitely break out yelling at that absurd plot in that dumpster fire of a movie.'

She paused thinking briefly of the literal dozens of movie review videos that she would binge watch back home. She visibly cringed at the memory of the food fight movie.

"Okay scratch that food fight was the worst out of them all."

She said as she looked around the clearing holding her phone tightly in her hands still. She glanced down to it before she opened it, giving a small smile at the sight of her Gamzee wallpaper the feeling of ease the picture alone gave her was overwhelming, tears began welling up as she took in the sight of dozens of missed calls and missed texts. She checked her phone and was taken aback that they were all voicemail messages, all of them from her friends and her chosen family that had been at the party last night. She pressed drakes voicemail a large goofy smile splaying on her face as she listened to his shaky recording.

"Hey, So your girlfriend told us to send you voicemail's before-"

his message grew quiet and staticky before coming back to full volume.

"Just make sure that wherever you are when your listening to this, just make sure to come back in one piece okay Sierra? Alright I love you sis bye."

Tears poured down her cheeks at the sound of his voice, she hadn't even been gone all that long yet and already she missed him with a passion. She shook as she listened to voicemail after voicemail that all of her friends had sent her.

"Hey hun"

Sam's voicemail had to be the most heart wrenching for her.

"I know that you're gonna miss us a lot but don't forget that you'll make it through this. Your gonna be fine and we'll be okay over here too! Just stay positive and keep safe over there okay? I know it hurts to be away from me and Roderick but you got Marian and she promised me that she'll bring you back in one piece, so trust me when I say we'll see each other soon!"

She breathed out shakily as she cried her heart out unaware of the birds around the area watching her and a few of them even hopping a few feet closer towards her before hopping back whenever she moved her legs that were now kneeling against the dead leaves and thin twigs that covered the ground.

"I love you Sierra and I know you'll make it through this, see you in five months."

Samantha's voice finished as soft and loving as she always was when she was talking to Sierra. She wiped at her eyes trying to clear her face of tears but they just continued to pour down her face. She coughed in a short quiet sob as she closed out of voicemail's and quickly went to her messages, smiling at the paragraph long messages that each of her friends had sent her. Some had sent her pictures of them smiling and waving goodbye to her, others had sent videos of the entire group wishing her good luck on her trip on connection. Some like her brother and Brenna had sent her meme after meme and paragraph long messages telling her about how they wished her good luck. She took screenshots of each message, saved every video and picture knowing that she would have to save it later onto her laptop. She smiled and chuckled at the memes that they had sent her, her heart swelling with joy that they cared enough to send her anything. She'd have to make a picture for all of them when she got back to earth that was for sure.

A couple of hours passed when varies finally appeared carrying what seemed to be a large pile of rabbits and firewood. Her face breaking into a happy smile at the sight of Sierra awake. Though she quickly grew confused at the sight before her. Sierra sat on her sleeping bag with a good dozen birds sitting all over her shoulders and head. Some had even gotten onto her fingers and allowed her to gently pet them.

"Oh varies!"

She called out softly looking up as she noticed varies's arrival in the campsite.

"Didn't see you there!, look at these lil guys aren't they cute!"

She fawned over the two birds in her hands. They had nestled on each of her palms as she carefully pet there heads with her thumbs. The smile on her face was bright as she cooed at the birds.

"Uh? Yes they are but i Sierra how did you even get them to let you to hold them?"

Varies asked bewildered at the sight of Sierra covered in birds, pik pik birds no less! They were very common ground nesting birds on connection but they were extremely hard to domesticate, let alone hold and pet! They were very popular due to the wide range of bright colors they could come in. There were at least a good fourteen birds on her, five of them were a soft sky blue color while two were emerald green, then the rest were either a pink or a soft lilac. Sierra gave her a confused look before she spoke

"they just kinda hopped to me is all? Why?"

Varies never in her life had wanted to facepalm herself in her life as much as she did then.

It was 11:00 am by the time they had packed up everything and had begun heading off on their way. At least after Sierra asked varies to take a picture of her with the pik pik birds. Two of the birds however didn't leave no matter how hard Sierra tried to ease them off of her. After the fifth attempt to try and ease them away she gave up.

"Guess I have two birds now"

She said as she shrugged on her bag and the small backpack that varies had given her, it was full of the cooked rabbit meat the daemon had cooked for their breakfast and Sierra could feel her mouth watering at the thought of having more of the rabbit meat for their lunch. Her two pik pik birds were nestled on top of her head, soft chirps and coos coming from them occasionally as she walked Varies ahead of her leading the way.

"So how long do you think it'll take to get to your town, city?, place?"

'Yeah that sounds good'

She thought as she finished her question. Varies snorted at her antics before she spoke

"we're heading to the capital city actually, it's where I work after all. And I believe if we don't have any distractions and keep at a steady pace we'll arrive at the city's outskirts in three days time."

She gave the human a reassuring smile.

"and don't worry about the size of the city. Most city's here on connection aren't as big as earth's."

She said as she uncaptaloged a map and followed the directions on it. Sierra raised her eyebrow at the mentions of the city's size but shrugged and glanced up to where the two birds sat huddled close to one another.

"I think I'll name the pink one poppy and the green one Derek."

Sierra said abruptly causing varies to chuckle.

"Okay if you really want to just know that pik pik birds are extremely capricious in their behavior."

Sierra shot her a questioning look only receiving a shake and a bemused smile.

"Okay than explain to me why these two"

she pointed at the two birds on her head their bright blue eyes piping open at her sudden movement and quickly made loud chirps at her.

"Oops, Sorry lil' guys didn't mean to spook ya"

she quickly said her eyes soft and worried for the two birds.

"but anyway, that still doesn't explain why these two lil' guys are so fond of me."

Varies's only response was a look of blank confusion before she shrugged and continued onward Sierra following suit.

It had been only a half hour when Sierra had begun to sing, it was Pointless and not at all serious singing but still singing nonetheless. Varies could feel her left eye twitch at the lyrics Sierra sang out.

"we're no strangers to love!, you know the rules and so do I!"

Varies didn't recognize the song but something about the mischievous smile on the others face told her that it wasn't all that innocent. It was even worse when the two pik pik birds chirped in time with the beat of sierras tune.

"A full commitment's what I'm thinking of, you wouldn't get this from any other guy!"

She slowly spun careful of the birds on her head as she did so before giving varies a wink. Varies had to hold back a snort at the ridiculousness of the whole situation. Sierra singing to her in the middle of the woods, two golfsized pik pik birds on her head all while they were walking to the capital. Gods what had her life become as of late?

"I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling"

the human drew closer to her shoulders bumping into one another as she sang on her eyes growing playful.

"Gotta make you understand"

the smile on sierra's face as she took in her next breath made Varies laugh her body warm and energetic as Sierra belted out what sounded like the chorus of the song.

"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you!"

Varies laughed loudly as Sierra comically shimmed her arms carefully her eyes warm and joy filled as she sang on.

"Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and hurt you!"

At this point Sierra had grabbed a hold of varies's hands and held them gently as she sang on, Varies's laughter ringing out through the air the whole entire situation was so silly and funny yet she couldn't help but smile back at Sierra as she sang on, the humans eyes seemingly glowing as she did so.

"We've known each other for so long, your heart's been aching but your too shy to say it"

the two of them grew closer to one another Varies still half heartedly trying to walk forward and leading Sierra all the while.

"Inside we both know what's been going on, we know the game and we're gonna play it!"

It was nice listening to Sierra sing, her voice was clear and strong as if she truly had let loose with the song.

"And if you ask me how I'm feeling, don't tell me you're too blind to see"

Sierra paused briefly to take in another breath as Varies prepared to jump in with the song.

"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you!"

Varies joined in her voice shaky at first but slowly growing comfortable as she sang the lyrics.

"Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and hurt you!"

The birds chirped out the beat of the song as Varies and sierra sang together eyes creased up in laughter as they sang.

"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you."

Sierra leaned in closer to varies giving a warm smile as they sang the last bit of the chorus together.

"Never gonna make you cry, never gonna say goodbye, never gonna tell a lie and hurt you."

Sierra sang the last words varies going silent and smiling gently at her as Sierra leant up and gave her a soft quick kiss on her lips, before she pulled away and stepped back a warm smile on her face all the while. Varies could only watch the other in awe at how in that moment Sierra seemed to look like an ethereal being. Her hair shining in the early afternoon sunlight, her eyes bright and awake unlike how they always had seemed to be lidded and relaxed from what varies had seen of the human. She may have been wearing day old clothes and had two baseball sized birds on her head, but to the daemon she looked beautiful in her own creative way and that alone made her look even more beautiful.

"Well?"

Sierra began giving her a playful smile as she spoke

"we got a capital to be getting to."

Varies snorted at her words shaking her head before walking ahead of her and leading the way to the capital city.

It was around 4:50pm when the two of them decided to take a short lunch break and relax for a small bit. The two of them sat on top of Sierra's rolled out sleeping bag while they ate in a comfortable silence, the soft sounds of poppy and Derek chirping and cooing as they peaked at the seeds and small bits of bread Sierra had given to them. Sierra chewed happily on her bite of a makeshift sandwich that she had made with some of the rabbit meat and a bread roll that varies had on her. Varies had given her a small drawstring bag full of seeds and grains for her two birds, which was currently opened enough for the two pik pik birds to peak at and eat to their hearts content. Varies chewed on a large still slightly warm piece of rabbit thigh as she finished of the thigh bone she spoke breaking the relaxed quiet.

"So what was so funny about that song that you were singing earlier?"

Sierra flushed at the question.

'damn was kinda hoping that she would chalk it up to a dumb earth thing.'

She thought as she gave her sandwich another quick bite, and chewing slightly before she swallowed it then glancing towards the other, and varies was looking at her.

'shit how am I going to be able to explain what an internet meme is?'

She asked herself as she opened her mouth stuttering as she struggled to think of some kind of explanation before she just gave up and went with it.

"It's an internet meme online back on earth."

Varies rose an eyebrow at her before narrowing her eyes and speaking carefully.

"An internet meme? So you mean something like the troll face?"

Sierra paused at her words before blinking her eyes in confusion.

'wait what? she knows about the troll face meme?'

Her eyes snapped wide open at Varies before she spoke again confusion and shock on her face.

"Wait what? You guys have the troll face meme here?!"

Varies merely nodded slowly looking at Sierra with a look of light confusion.

"Yeah it's a image that pokes fun at internet trolls, Guess earth and connection shares memes?"

Sierra snorted at her words before she spoke again.

"Yeah I guess, but how the fuck does Earth and connection have similar online jokes?"

Her voice rose slightly before lowering quickly when poppy and Derek chirped loudly at her. Varies could only shrug before pausing to think.

"It could be because of how many of connection's population came from a different versions of earth."

Sierra could only blink at her words before she spoke in a confused tone.

"Wait what?"

"Well their are trolls from alternia, beforus, and earth c."

Sierra went wide eyed at the realization.

"Wait is this why connection is called connection?!"

She asked shrilly gripping on the daemon tank top and shaking the other a couple times gently. Varies chuckled at the action before she nodded and sheepish spoke up.

"I suppose connection is considered to many as a multidimensional hub world."

Sierra's eyes went wide at her words.

"I mean the planet is about threes times the size of earth and has a extremely hospitable nature on it. Millions of people can live here on connection and live the lives they deserve."

Sierra could only watch in awe at varies's words, the look her face took on was one that practically screamed out how strongly she felt about the topic.

"Heh wow you sound like you know a lot about how your world works"

Sierra blushed in embarrassment as she went on.

"I never really knew all that much about how earth worked"

she paused seemingly frustrated at her own words as if they weren't the ones she meant.

"I mean I knew who my planet worked to an extent, I mean a lot of people on earth do but I just never really cared to much about the more political side of things"

Her face seemed to grow dark as she spoke, her eyes scrunching and twisting into a look of mournful understanding.

"I knew how greedy different governments could be, how they could play dirty to just get what they wanted, how some seemed to turn a blind eye towards some of the really awful things around them and only focused on the smaller stuff"

Sierra paused again glancing up at Varies who looked back at her with a sad sort of understanding smile. Sierra could only flush deeply at the realization of her words, it was no secret to many of her friends how much she disliked talking about politics or how she hated many of the darker topics of the worlds history like war, slavery and pretty much anything that gave her an unsettling feeling. She despised the sheer amount of people who seemed to throw hatred towards one another because the other disagreed with their opinions. She could understand if the opinions were ones that truly deserved hate but simple things like favorite movies or how someone felt about a show or not. She had read hundreds of online posts about topics like this, deaths threats thrown at one another easily as if it wouldn't hurt the other.

Sierra looked away embarrassed at her words, she must have painted a pretty awful picture of earth now. Guilt began to eat at her then with her realization, her teeth began to gnaw at her lower lip as she grew more and more guilty. Varies quickly turned towards Sierra and gently touched her shoulders snapping the other out of her guilt ridden thoughts.

"Sierra"

The daemon called out gently, making the other look back up at her face. She could feel her breath escape her as she took in the pure look of genuine understanding and reassurance. Her eyes grew misty as she listened to The darker haired woman speak.

"You have nothing to worry about, everyone has the opinions about their lives and the places they've come from. It's only natural that you would talk about the negative first rather than the positive."

Sierra felt varies right palm slide itself onto her left cheek, she leaned into the touch a soft and small smile teasing her lips as she looked into the others vibrant violet eyes. Her hand was warm and rough from what must have been years of heavy lifting and hard work, Sierra wasn't entirely too sure which of the two it might have been all she knew was that the person before her was eliciting feelings that she had for several people in her life. Thoughts of Samantha and Ricardio filled her mind briefly before she watched Varies go on with her kind and gentle words.

"There's nothing wrong with you disliking something that made up a large part of your world, it's normal and there nothing wrong about that."

Sierra could only blink at the other her eyes misty with unshed tears as she stuttered with her words her hands quickly grabbing her long ponytail and beginning to fiddle with it nervously. Her mind was a blank at the others words, all she could feel was an overwhelming sense of relief and the overwhelming urge to cry into the others arms for calming her guilt.

"I-i know it's just,"

she struggled to say her words around the tightness in her throat at her face and eyes began to burn at the sheer overwhelming surge of emotions.

"I can't help but feel guilty about saying or thinking about all of these shitty things that I remember about earth, but"

she heaved a sigh looking down at the sleeping bag covered ground in between them her sandwich placed onto her lap before she looked back at Varies's face.

"But when I think more about it there's a ton of stuff about earth that I love so much too."

Varies gave her a warm smile as the other nuzzled against her palm and gave her a warm quiet joyful smile back. Varies was the one who leaned down and captured sierras lips with her own. Sierra could feel her pulse quicken at the contact, her eyes pricking with tears that had built up from her guilt before she closed her eyes and felt them slip down the sides of her cheeks and wrapped her arms around varies's neck, The daemon's lips were chapped and rough as if the other had never really used chapstick or something of the sort. She could feel the sheer strength in the black haired daemon's body as she carefully pressed herself against her.

'She's feels like she could probably lift me up like I weigh nothing'

she thought with a blush as she slowly pulled away from the other her chest heaving and heart hammering in her rib cage. She felt giddy and on fire in that moment just like she always felt whenever she cuddled with Samantha on the couch or a bed, or how she would hug and fall asleep being held in Roderick's arms at night. She felt content in that moment as Varies smiled lovingly down at her, then a mischievous thought crossed her mind. If they had people from different versions of earth here then she should be able to know about a specific term related to a song.

"Varies?"

"Hmm?"

Varies hummed to her nuzzling at sierras neck and sighing in contentment.

"Have you ever heard of the term rick roll?"

Varies went stiff at her words.

"Sierra"

she called out warningly, Sierra couldn't help the large mischievous smile that stretched across her face as she held back a laugh.

"Never gonna give you up hun."

She sang out with her words ending in laughter as Varies pulled away from her, her right hand held up in the air a look that practically screamed out 'done on her face. Sierra laughed louder at the expression on the other, before she slowly picked up Her sandwich and gave Varies a sly wink as she began to eat her sandwich again as Varies spoke loudly in realization.

"You seduced me with a rick roll?!"

Sierra almost choked on her food as she laughed.

When they had finished eating their food they had went back on their way to the capital. Sierra practically walking with a bounce in her step as she held Varies's right hand in her left. She felt at peace with the other, similar to how she always felt with Ricardio and Sam. Poppy and Derek had made themselves comfortable on varies's horns that were mostly hidden by her hair but still visible to an extent.

"So"

Sierra began glancing at her two new pik pik birds.

"What other cool animals live here in connection?"

Varies stammered at her question, her face twisting into a genuinely confused expression.

"I'll be honest I actually don't a hundred percent know."

Her voice was sheepish as she spoke, her cheeks flushing a bright violet. Sierra rose an eyebrow at that causing varies to stammer and stutter as she struggled to elaborate her answer.

"I meant that I haven't really had the opportunity to study up on all of the creatures here, I mean a general for a sector don't usually have a lot of free time on their hands to read up on things like that."

Sierra gaped at her, face full of shock.

"Wait? General!?"

Varies flinched at the loud shriek of confusion the other emitted. Poppy and Derek quickly chirped loudly at her volume. Sierra gave them a sheepish smile before quickly uttering out a quiet.

"Sorry"

before clearing her throat and speaking in a quieter voice.

"your a general?!"

Varies glanced to the side and chuckled nervously before nodding while taking in a sharp intake of air through her teeth.

"Uh yes? I suppose I forgot to tell you that?"

Sierra released her hold of the others hand to throw her arms up into the air, poppy and Derek quickly flying to the top of her head as she gave the other a look of overdramatized resignation at varies's words.

"Ya think?"

Varies flushed darkly at the others reaction.

"Sorry I forgot to tell you, I just kinda got caught up with other stuff."

She admitted sheepishly, Sierra sighed dropping her arms to her sides and giving varies a small amused smile as she spoke up.

"Lemme Guess? I was that something you got caught up with?"

Varies laughed loudly at her words and lightly punched her left shoulder.

"You are such a romantic you know that right?"

She said chuckling and giving the other a warm smile of bemusement. Sierra only laughed at her words, a warm smile on her face as she did so.

When the sky began to grow dark and the stars began to start shining in the sky did Varies decide they should stop for the night. Sierra agreed wholeheartedly, her legs and feet aching from the many hours of walking the two had done. Sierra wrinkled her nose at how she smelt, sweat from the past two days making her smell awful. She asked Varies for her clothes so she could change into a set of clean clothes, she didn't mind not being able to take a shower yet. She had due to her depression and forgetfulness had once gone a whole week without taking a shower, but she couldn't wait for them to run into a lake or a stream of some sort so that she would clean herself up to an extent. She probably looked like a mess after the past two days events. Varies set to starting a small campfire while Sierra changed quickly behind a tree, the trees bark rough on her bare arms and back as she slipped her two day old clothes off of her body. Cringing at the overwhelming smell of leftover lake water and sweat emanating from her clothes.

'Hopefully whenever we do find a stream, I'll remember to wash my clothes in it too before we go.'

She thought to herself as she yanked on a pair of black leggings over her legs.

'Might run out of clean clothes if I don't'

she mused as she pulled on the clean white t-shirt she had packed for a night shirt. It was baggy and comfortable and that was all that mattered to her. When she smelt the smoke of the campfire she hurried up to join Varies at the campsite.

"So do you know if there's any ponds or freshwater lakes nearby or?"

She asked the daemon watching as she heated up some of the leftover rabbit meat from earlier. Varies thought for a moment before she answered.

"I believe that there might be a few streams and a freshwater spring nearby if that sounds good?"

Sierra smiled as she gave her a nod, laying her head on the others lap. Poppy and Derek were a few feet away nestled close together at the base of the nearest tree, a small pile of twigs and feathers around them.

"They look so cute together you know?"

Sierra said suddenly.

"hmmm?"

Varies hummed in question at her words glancing away briefly from the sticks of rabbit meat that she was heating back up, to the sight of Sierra looking at the two pik pik birds with a look of deep longing on her face. As if just seeing the two made a part of her clench in want. Varies could only watch as Sierra went on.

"I've always wanted to be in a relationship with someone who loved me unconditionally no matter how dumb I could be"

she paused her eyes looking down and filling with guilt.

"I mean it's not like Samantha and Roderick never didn't not love me even when I did something dumb or said something stupid, I just-"

she cut herself off, her eyes tearing up slightly as she seemed to think deeply about what to say next. How to put her feelings and emotions into words that could translate well. She struggled for a moment before she spoke up again.

"I have a hard time staying in love with just one person alone."

Her face grew resentful then at her words, as if she despised herself for even saying those words. 

"Just one of the main things that make being polyamorous a lot more difficult for me."

She admitted with a sigh. Varies made a small concerned frown at Sierra's words, worry for where the others mind was going. Sierra shook her head then her look of deep concentration slipping away before being being replaced with one of reassurance.

"I'm alright I guess"

another sigh slipped from her.

"I guess I just was wondering how Sam and Roderick are doing is all"

Varies was silent but nodded the movement slight and hardly noticeable to the other but Sierra still smiled at her regardless.

Then without warning the dirty blonde stood up, her eyes reflecting the campfire's light as she held her hand out to varies who looked at it with confusion before plunging the bottoms of the long wooden sticks and still allowing them to be slightly above the fire, then she took sierras hand. Wordlessly Sierra carefully pulled the daemon close to her her right arm wrapping around her waist and her left hand holding Varies uninjured hand. Slowly the human began to quietly sing, her voice soft and gentle as she did so.

"I'm not yours, and you're not mine, but we can sit and pass the time."

Sierra looked lovingly into the others glowing violet eyes, adoration clear in her eyes.

"No fighting wars, no ringing chimes, we're just feeling fine."

Slowly in time with her words Sierra began to slowly sway side to side leading Varies gently around the campfire of their temporary camp.

"This is where we're supposed to be, sitting by a broken tree, no tragedy, no poetry"

Varies felt her chest fill with a fluttering sensation as she took in the look of pure affection and adoration on the humans face. Her face felt warm as she followed sierras gentle lead in their slow relaxed dance around the fire.

"Just staring at the sky."

Sierra glanced quickly at the night sky above them, eyes wide as they took in the sight of a absolutely clear night sky. Stars shining brightly and diamond clear even as the fire burned brightly in the center of their campsite.

"I could wait a thousand hours, stay the same in sun and showers, pick apart a hundred flowers, just to be quiet"

her eyes welled up with tears as she sang on as soft as she could. Varies helpless as she watched the other pour her heart into every sung word.

"Tell me when you feel ready, I'm the one, there's not too many, hold my hand to keep me steady"

her grip on varies's right hand tightened slightly at the lyrics, eyes warm and wet with love and affection and a deep kind of sorrow that the daemon couldn't figure out where it was coming from not what was causing it.

"Just to be quiet with you, with youuuu"

Sierra drawled our the last word her lips twisting into a sad smile, her eyes looking a hundred years older than the one who held them.

"I like it here beside you dear, you're even more than you appear"

Varies couldn't help but give a sad smile of her own at the words Sierra sang out softly, the dimly glowing eyes of the human seemingly hypnotizing her to feel the emotional pain behind them.

"And in the clouds my head is clear, every time you say hello"

Varies could feel herself getting lost in the seemingly endless depths of sierras eyes, they felt and looked so familiar like a lost loved one.

"So here's my heart, and here's my mouth, and I can't help if things come out, cause there are words I want to shout, but maybe I'll stay low"

Sierra voice went soft as she sang, Varies hypnotized by her hypnotic stare.

"I could wait a thousand hours, stay the same in sun and showers, pick apart a hundred flowers, just to be quietttt"

she sang out the last word her lips close to Varies's as they slowly held each other gently and swayed together in the warm night air.

"Tell me when you feel ready, I'm the one, there's not to many, hold my to keep me steady, just to be quiet."

She sang the chorus again bringing her hands to Varies's chest, her face flushing as Varies wrapped her right arm around her waist and began to slowly lead her in their impromptu dance.

"I could wait a thousand hours, stay the same in sun and showers, pick apart a hundred flowers, just to be quiet"

Varies sang with sierras words, her eyes glowing brightly at the sheer emotion she was feeling towards the other in her hold.

"Tell me when you feel ready, I'm the one, there's not too many,"

Sierra slid her arms behind Varies's neck and pressed herself closer to the other, her eyes softening the slight burning sensation that had been occurring before fading away as she did so.

"Hold my hand to keep me steady, just to be quiet with youuuu"

the two sang the words softly to each other, Varies subtly following her lead with the words.

"With you, with you, with youuuu"

Sierra leaned in closer to Varies as if to try and quell the fluttering in her chest, her heart beating quickly and rapidly as she did so.

"With youuuu"

Varies sang on as Sierra and her sang separate lyrics at the same time.

"I'm not yours and you're not mine"

they grew closer to each other as best they could. Varies could feel the thumping of Sierra heart as she held the other.

"With you, with youuu"

"I'm not yours, and you're not mine but we can sit and pass the time."

The two of them sang lips mere inches away from one another

"with youuu"

Sierra finished with a near silent whisper, her breath wagging over varies's lips moments before the two kissed.

When they had pulled away from the quiet and chaste kiss Sierra gave the daemon a warm and tired smile as she stepped away from the other.

"There"

She said breaking the silence with a smile.

"now I didn't seduce you with a meme this time."

Varies snorted at her words and hugged the smaller with her uninjured arm.

"You're a dork"

she said laughing breathlessly. Sierra yawned and chuckled quietly as she hugged the taller in return.

"But ya love me for it"

She sang out giggling as she released her hug and step away from Varies her hands behind her back before she sat down on top of her laid out sleeping bag. She felt exhausted from all of the walking they had done that day, and messiahs knew she would need as much rest as possible before they went out again tomorrow.

"Imma get some sleep in"

a yawn interrupted her words as her eyes grew even more tired and heavy.

"Before we head out again tomorrow."

Varies nodded her smile drooping slightly before perking back up and becoming warm.

"Alright I'll keep an eye on the fire, you sure you don't want any dinner before you go rest?"

She asked concerned at the others forgetfulness to eat. Sierra paused to think, she surprisingly enough didn't feel hungry at all. She just felt exhausted, she frowned to herself as a sudden overwhelming amount of exhaustion hit her and caused her to yawn again.

"Huh?, I'm not really feeling that hungry actually."

Varies gave her a worried look.

"You sure?"

Sierra nodded waving off her worry.

"Yeah I'm sure, I just feel really exhausted right now."

She slurred out as she wobbled unsteadily on her feet, her head began to pound and ache behind her temples. Her eyelids felt heavy and exhausted like she had spent the last three days awake and fueled on nothing but energy drinks and adrenaline. She felt so tired and exhausted, Varies quickly grabbed her by her arm as her legs suddenly buckled underneath her.

"Sierra!, are you alright?!"

The dark haired daemon asked panic and worry in her voice as she took in the now disheveled and exhausted appearance of Sierra. The human's eyes appeared dull and hardly full of life as they rolled around in her head, her eyelids and the area around her eyes had quickly become dark as if she hadn't been sleeping well for the past week.

'shit, shit not now damnit!'

Varies cursed to herself as she struggled to carry Sierra with her one good arm.

'Not when I'm incapacitated for a good couple of days.'

She hissed to herself as she carefully laid Sierra on top of her sleeping bag, watching as sierras eyes grew milky white and sightless.

"Shit, Sierra can you hear me?"

She called out to the human who had begun shivering uncontrollably her body becoming limp and numb.

"Varies?"

The daemon could feel her heart breaking at the sound of Sierra's weak and terrified voice.

"Shh it's alright"

she began quickly giving up on not moving her wounded left arm and pulling it out of her sling and petting Sierra's now sweat soaked hair back in a weak attempt to calm the now panicking human.

"J-Just rest okay? I'll be here when you wake up okay?"

She watched as Sierra gave a weak smile before she nodded and curled into herself, her eyes sliding shut and going into an exhausted sleep. Varies could only pray that Sierra wouldn't scream when she woke up next. Though four hours later in the dead of night, the campfire long extinguished. Sierra would wake up her eyes burning and screaming in agony much to varies's horror.


	12. Chapter 11: chrysalis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sierra has a nightmarish dream, and she wake's up to a agonized reality. her body going through changes that hint at her family line. Varies while Sierra is incapacitated try's to deal with the situation as best she can, all the while worrying about how to explain to the human about what exactly had happened to her.

To say her dream that night was weird would have been a gross understatement. Sierra's mind that night had been filled with strange twisted imagery unlike anything she had seen prior. She stared at the strange limp and broken form in front of her. The figure was limp on the water like surface of the strange dreamlike dark area around her. She felt fearful of the figure before her that was a good yard away from her. She was frozen in fear as the form jerked upward suddenly with a sickeningly loud crack, it's neck twisting at an angle before with another sick crack straightened and turned to look at her with burning bright blue eyes that seemed to looked through her.

'Run'

Her mind screamed at her as the figure turned its whole body towards her and slowly at first but quickly gaining momentum the figure began to crawl towards her before its legs straightened with loud sick pops and cracks as if its entire body had been folded and compressed to be hidden away or make room for something else. Sierra ran, her wings that she had in her dreams the past few nights missing so she relied on her feet and legs to carry her away from the twisted woman's form chasing after her.

She felt sick to her stomach, her head and body ached with a deep and permeating pain that seemed to only grow stronger and more intense as time went on.

'Why?'

She asked herself as the look of her surroundings changed into strange and warped versions of places she had been too in her life. The warped and smeared form of her middle schools building appeared on the right of her, the doors wide open and swinging as she turned abruptly to run inside the doors of the cold and sterile halls of her middle school. The halls painted white and the linoleum floors looked more like those of her workplace, the building changed and jutted outward and inward in strange and twisted ways. A door from her elementary school years there, a large window from a childhood friend's house here. The building quickly became a labyrinth to her panicked and aching mind.

'Failure!'

Her mind screamed at her as she ran faster feeling the phantom breath of the twisted tangled woman chasing her. Her eyes burned, lungs and legs ached, her sides and back ached painfully as if something inside her wanted to burst outward from there. She sobbed out in relief as she spotted her childhood rooms door. She quickly yanked the door open and rushed inside the room quickly slamming her rooms door shut and locked it shut and dove under the blue and gray covers of her mix matched bed. She felt ashamed that she was hiding under her blankets like a child.

"Why is this happening?"

She sobbed out coughing suddenly as her throat burned and nausea hit her full force. She gagged as she struggled To hold the oncoming bile down. She could hear the sounds of memories around her blanket covered form as she shook in terror. Sounds of her mom and stepdad arguing loudly, with the silent and loud sobbing of her and her brother's fearful crying. Sounds of a fight echoing off, Bird-cries mixing along with the sounds of dogs barking. Then she heard a loud 'thump' sound the top and back of her head flaring in pain at the sound. Sierra flinched at the memory, memories that she would want nothing more than to erase them from her life.

'But that's not how adults act now is it?'

Her mind hissed cruelly, the form of a featureless pitch black humanoid figure appeared before her, it's only visible feature was the thin lips that spoke in time with her hateful thoughts. Her thoughts that would probably stay with her until she keeled over.

'Your family hates you, they hate you so much'

it hissed out again, dark ichor dripping off of its words and burning the area around it. Flames catching onto the few good thoughts she had about herself and burning them away little by little.

'How much longer till your satisfied?'

It asked tilting its head with a sick 'crack' sound. Sierra pulled away and quickly slipped away from under her covers to take in the strangely beautiful area around her. Fleshy ground below her that pulsed underneath her bare and aching feet. She was so tired, wasn't dreams supposed to be happy?, relaxing? She couldn't help but feel like she had been cheated out of some important factors that dreams supposedly had. Trees that were an odd mix of nature and pulsating flesh surrounded her, veins visible underneath thin layers of fragile skin. She wanted to rip the world around her to bloody and visceral shreds. Tear it apart until there wasn't a scrap left of it all, nothing except herself and her hateful thoughts.

Tears poured down her cheeks as she began to violently rip up the ground underneath her and the closest branches near her. Dark sticky sap-like liquid began to coat her arms and legs as she began to scream, unaware that in the land of the living she had begun to shout in her uneasy sleep. Her hands morphed into ones of a beast like monster, tearing into tree after tree. Rage burning in her as she screamed out,

'do not got gentle into that good night'

Her mind recited, the poem burned and etched deep into her mind.

'Old age should burn and rave at close of day'

she screamed out the next words rage growing in her as she ripped another tree down in a sickening crunch. Thick and warm sap dripping and flowing in between her enormous claw-like fingers.

"Rage,rage against the dying of the light!"

Spines were the hearts of the strange warped trees around her, eyes and still beating hearts that shone like berries and apples were their fruit. She raged her form growing till she was the height of one of the strange trees. Bones cracked and popped under her feet as she tore down tree after tree.

"Though wise men at their end know dark is right, because their words had forked no lighting they do not go gentle into that good night!"

Her rage was quickly depleting and she began to shrink and change back into her normal unassuming self.

'Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright; their frail deeds might have danced in a Green Bay,'

her mind quoted as she screamed and struggled to fight against her dying rage, her hands clawing at the thick trees. Venomous hatred spilling and frothing forth from her lips.

"Rage, rage against the dying of the light!"

Entire trees fell at her shout of rage, bones and ribs that made up there insides snapping and Crunching as she did so.

'Wild men who caught and sang the sun into flight, and learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,'

She again finished the quote that her mind gave her.

"do not go gentle into that good night!"

Even as she felt her eyes burn as she cried and felt her rage and hatred quickly fade away.

"Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight; blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay, rage, rage against the dying of the light"

she sobbed out the quote as she felt herself become swallowed with guilt at the destruction around her. The destruction that she had caused, dead and crushed trees surrounded her. She was silent before she quietly recited the last stanza of the poem.

"And you, my father, there on the sad height, curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray. Do not go gentle into that good night."

With a loud sob that was filled with pained grieving she cried out the last line.

"rage, rage against the dying of the light."

She was silent as she cried, guilt eating at her as The dream world around her shifted and faded to that of a large open vast field, flowers dotting all over it in giant clumps and small dots.

She looked around breathlessly her face twisting in pain as her entire body and head ached and burned intensely. Her long dirty blonde hair being soothingly swept up by the gentle breeze blowing around her. A last sob left her lips as she looked around blankly and feeling lost as what to do. Why had she been so angry?, when had she been running?, where was she? Her mind was a jumbled mess of twisted and exhausted confusion. Tired of running or moving Sierra fell to her knees unaware of the person standing behind her a few feet away.

"Hello"

a voice suddenly spoke up, causing Sierra to jump at the soft and gentle voice that spoke up. She spun around in her spot of the soft grassy meadow underneath her. She could only gasp in disbelief at the woman before her. She was a good four feet taller than Sierra, her five eyes all were softly glowing a calm serene blue, her Long dirty blonde hair was put into a thick braid, she had six arms and on her back she had the enormous lunar moth wings that Sierra had on her person for the past few nights. The woman looked so familiar that Sierra couldn't help but feel dumb for not recognizing her, the soft calming blue eyes that looked so much like her own, the long ankle length sleeveless white dress that she wore was so much like sierra's own knee length dress. She was breathtaking and screamed out elegant beauty, the soft and healthy look to her off white skin was nearly the same as Sierra's. The more and more Sierra looked at the woman the more she noticed how much she looked like her.

"Why do you cry so young one?"

She spoke again, Sierra could feel herself relax at the sound of her voice alone, it was so calm and gentle, yet warm and knowing. She just sounded so trustworthy and knowledgeable, as if she was an ancient knowing deity.

"Uh?- ehm!"

Sierra cleared her throat before she spoke in a voice that sounded as if she had swallowed some helium.

"A-are you talking to me?"

She asked hesitantly pointing to herself in disbelief. The woman laughed at her answer, her five eyes crinkling in amusement as she laughed genuinely before she wiped away a small tear and nodded.

"Indeed I am speaking to you little one, goodness you are certainly one of the more entertaining of them aren't you?"

Sierra made a look of confusion at her words eyes squinting at her. The older woman seemed to have realized her mistake and chuckled nervously to herself.

"Pardon my odd words, I was saying that more for myself than anyone else."

Her cheeks flushed lightly at her mistake before she cleared her throat and spoke again.

"If I may ask again?, what makes you cry so young one?"

She knelt down on the ground before her a look of genuine curiosity on her face. Sierra could only struggle to look for the words to tell the other woman, before she quietly admitted with a heavy heart.

"I-I can't remember"

she looked down at her hands tangling her fingers together. The woman sighed softly in understanding as if Sierra's memory loss was nothing new.

"Well how about I help you remember?"

She asked kindly making Sierra snap her head up and look at her, eyes wide and teary. Why was she so sad?, why did her chest hurt so much? She opened her mouth to tell the woman no before she slowly closed her mouth and took the now standing woman's hand carefully as if scared that she shouldn't have been around the meadow, and giving the woman a small sad kind've smile and a quick jerky nod. Then the two walked away Sierra clutching onto the taller woman's hand as if terrified that she would be left behind as she watched the dreamworld behind them disappear into a dark pitch black nothingness that gave her a sense of terror. She felt so lost and miserable, she couldn't seem to shake away the feeling that she was forgetting something important.

"Miss?"

Sierra's tiny shaking voice asked carefully to the older woman who was leading Her down what seemed like a cobblestone road that led into a large homely looking village.

"Hmmm?"

The taller hummed in question at her call.

"Why do you look so much like me?, I mean you look kinda like a much more taller prettier version of me. I guess I just wanna know who are you?"

Sierra asked feeling somewhat at peace as the woman led her gently through the streets of the lively village. People of all heights and races ran around the two of them, hardly ever seeming to take notice of them at all. The taller only laughed at her rambled out question before answering in a calming and joyful tone.

"I believe that you and I will both find this out in your own unique way, but I believe that the more pressing question for you to ask is who are you?"

She said as she led Sierra into a large garden that was in the center of the village. She looked around in wonder at the sight, before furrowing her eyes in confusion at the others words.

"What do you mean I need to ask 'who am I?' I'm mean I pretty much got that squared down."

She said smiling proudly before going on.

"I'm me, Sierra Marie Mitchell, And that's all I'll ever be"

she finished with a small smile. The taller woman nodded taking in the others answer as she did so before she spoke again.

"That's who you are to those around you, but who are you to yourself?"

Sierra paused at the question her eyes looking down as she thought about what to say.

"I-I guess I've never really thought about it that way"

she sighed out softly, tears beginning to well up in her eyes again.

'Why am I so emotional right now?'

She thought to herself as she sat on the gardens soft grass covered ground. Small blooms of pink evening primrose, dandelions, firewheels, and winecups. It felt as if she was sitting in a small field of wildflowers that were common in Texas. The taller woman gently placed a hand onto Sierra's right shoulder while giving her a warm and reassuring smile.

"It alright if you haven't thought of it all that much, we ourselves our are own worst critic at times."

Sierra appreciated the others words as she leaned against the other her eyes closing shut as the woman began to gently comb throughout hair with her long elegant fingers. Every tangle gently loosening and falling apart easily as she did so.

"Agreed"

was all she could say as she hummed in satisfaction at the older's gentle ministrations. She felt a bit lighter as if a weight had been lifted from her mind.

"what do you see in yourself when you look in a mirror little one?"

The taller asked genuine curiosity in her tone. Sierra laid across her lap and watched as a small puddle of clear water appeared on the ground before her. Her reflection showing in its reflective surface, she couldn't help but take in the appearance she had. Hair lush and long as it always had been in her dreams, her face free of any of the small scars that she had from picking at small blemishes that would occasionally show up, and her face clear of her glasses and her eyes took her main notice. Large blue green hazel eyes looked back at her, full of a gentle look of curiosity. They looked friendly and gentle but also sad. They screamed to be noticed in a subtle way that they always had.

"I-i see someone who look happy and cheerful but is hiding a lot of pain and sadness."

She could feel her throat tighten with emotion as she spoke, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes.

The taller woman hummed softly as she began to deftly braid sierra's hair.

"Indeed, as many worlds will have noticed for themselves, the eyes are the windows to the soul."

Sierra could only nod slowly at her words.

"Yeah"

She whispered quietly as if afraid to speak up any louder in fear that she would break the realization her reflection had gifted her.

"Tell me young one, what do you think of yourself?"

Sierra blinked owlishly at her question before closing her eyes to prevent the sudden torrent of tears from spilling from her eyes.

"I, I think that I'm a lazy person who can't ever seem to be able to stand up properly for herself and those she cares for."

Her breath hitched sharply at that before she forced herself to go on.

"Someone who cares too deeply for the what if's of a situation at times instead of thinking more about the present."

She let out a soft choked out sob before she softly went on.

"but I also know that I am a good person to an extent, i care about the people around me and those close to me. I know that under the right situation that I would do what's right for those around me."

Her voice grew stronger as she opened her eyes, burning painfully as she looked up at the taller woman with understanding and determination.

"And I know that I can change the less than perfect parts of me for the better, I know I'm never going to always see myself in a good light and I'm fine with that but I do know that I'm not perfect, No one is."

She sat up determined as she finished her sentence.

"I know now who I am, I'm Sierra goddamn Mitchell!"

She shouted her eyes bright even as her body and head ached in immense pain. She felt so determined in that moment, and for one of the few times in her life Sierra felt as if she was beautiful and free to be whoever she is. The taller woman gave her a warm and joyful smile before nodding in approval.

"I can't wait to see who you'll become later in your life little one"

she smiled at the other woman's words, even as the intense pain in her body grew more intense.

The taller must have seen the pain in her face because she grew worried.

"are you alright?"

Sierra winced as the burning sensation in her eyes grew more intense, causing her to take a sharp inhale.

"Fuck!, my body it hurts."

She hissed as she struggled to stand upright her eyes, head and body aching painfully. The world around the two of them began to shake slightly and the happy and joyful people that had been around them had faded away as the pain in sierras body grew more intense as the seconds ticked by. The taller woman watched in horror realization crossing her face as she watched on helpless.

"Your on connection?"

She asked quickly rushing to hold Sierra up in her arms as she looked around at the dream world crumbling and fading away into nothing but black nothingness. Sierra screamed loudly as the pain flared in her form, it felt as if her entire body was burning up from the inside out while simultaneously being struck by lightning,She jerked wildly in the others arms. even as she felt the others hold on her beginning to slip she cried out to her.

"Wait! Will I ever see you again?!"

Her voice was strained and weak as the taller woman began to fade away into hundreds of tiny moths of all colors. Her partially gone face smiled and gave her a quick nod.

"we'll meet again young one! I wish you good luck in your pupat—-"

Her last words became muffled and indecipherable as Sierra watched the woman disappear and she woke up to a world of pain and agony.

Sierra screamed as she jerked awake thrashing as she felt her body searing in agony. Her skin felt tacky, tight, and burned hotly to the touch. She rolled onto her side weakly crying loudly as she vomited violently, her nose dripping with mucus and blood. She weakly looked around blearily for Varies, she felt so scared, fearful for what was happening to her body.

"Varies"

She called out weakly as she saw the daemon watching fearfully across from her.

"What's happe-!"

Her body was hit with wave after wave of nausea as she weakly crawled away from her sleeping area and struggled to get closer to Varies. Her mind a muddle of pain and nausea, she felt so weak and tired as she felt her thighs stinging brightly as her bladder relieved itself and felt her sticky and tacky body shiver in agony.

'Oh god I think I'm dying!'

She thought weakly as the heat in her body spiked up more.

'Need to get out of my clothes'

she thought weakly her hands weakly scrabbling at her shirts collar and slowly and painfully pulling the shirt off of her body. She could feel layers of sticky tacky skin sticking to the shirt and pulling away from her back as she threw the shirt weakly away from her as she vomited again. Watching in grotesque curiosity at the puddle of off white liquid settled in front of her. She rose her right hand curiously taking in the sight of her extremely pale white hand that looked like it was dripping in several layers of sticky wet and shining mucus. She giggled dazedly at the sight even as her body ached more. She was quick to kick her remaining clothes off and weakly tossed them away from her body that had began heaving again. She hurled more and more of the odd white liquid that seemed to act like a sort of webbing.

'Silk'

she thought as leaves and twigs stuck to her body and she curled up into her self whimpering as her body produced more of the sticky silk. Whining loudly as her body shook and an odd calm sort of energy filled her and her eyes burned brightly as bright blue light poured out of her entire body. She took the sight of her body and surroundings one last time as she curled even more into herself and closed her eyes and the silk surrounded her body completely.

Varies could only watch in a mix of horror and awe as sierras body became covered in pure white opaque silk leaves and twigs covering the bottom of the chrysalis of sorts.

'No not a chrysalis, a cocoon'

Her mind supplied as she carefully stood up onto shaky legs.

"Sierra?"

She called out carefully blinking her eyes rapidly after the bright light show the humans body had displayed.

'No not human'

she thought to herself a sense of guilt filling her as she glanced at the two wide awake pik pik birds that watched the cocoon both feathers puffed up in fear. She slowly made her way towards the person sized cocoon before she fell to her knees her eyes filling with tears.

"Please"

She began weakly as if her words alone would be able to reach Sierra in her state of hibernation.

"Please don't leave me again."

She sobbed out before gingerly placing her hand atop the cocoon. Heat emanated from it, and she could feel slight movement coming from within. She sobbed at the realization that Sierra was gone if only temporarily. She spent a good half hour crying before the cocoon before she gathered the heart to pick up sierra's silk covered clothes and placed them onto the humans sleeping bag along with her glasses and carefully put them up into the bag Sierra had carried earlier that very day. She sighed looking at her wounded arm, before forcing herself to clench her hand into a fist wincing slightly at the sharp pain that went up her arm but ignored it to instead uncaptolge a small syringe that was filled with a clear liquid of some kind before she injected it into the skin around the area of her bullet wound. She watched determined as the wound quickly healed itself, the only proof that she ever had a hole in her arm being the small round bullet scar she had on both sides of her arm. She hadn't wanted to use the regenerative medicine in case Sierra had gotten hurt but now?, she gave the cocoon a slow glance before she went back to cleaning up what little of the small camp was left. Daylight broke over the horizon when she finally was ready to head out again. Poppy and Derek perched onto her horns as she hauled the large cocoon with the wooden sled-like piece of tree bark she had found and grunted as she moved forward carefully. She would make it to the capital even if she would have to be alone for as long as it took for Sierra to emerge from the cocoon. She would protect Sierra even if she got hurt in the end. After all what else would a Knight do for their leader?

Varies spent the next four days alone with only the two pik pik birds Sierra had befriended and no one else. The first day had been the worst to deal with, she kept waiting all throughout the day to hear sierras voice asking question after question about the planet around them, or just hearing her sing would have been a soothing reprieve from the cold and direct thoughts she had. She felt as if she had returned to a schedule she despised greatly. Wake up, get dressed, find food, gut and clean said food, walk, eat lunch, walk, eat dinner, sleep and repeat. She quickly hated how quiet everything was without sierras humorous and intelligent conversation. She felt in that moment as she hauled the giant cocoon now harder than any rock she had ever seen with a makeshift sled. The cocoon's silk was still slightly sticky to the touch and over the course of one day the majority of the top half became speckled in leaves and twigs. She eventually became paranoid at sudden and loud sounds that would ring out around her in the trees. Eventually as the day dragged on varies noticed with a sense of bewilderment that a small crowd of animals had begun to follow her or more specifically Sierra's cocoon.

'Oh you have got to be kidding me'

She thought bitterly as she began to quicken her pace hopping that her quickened pace would make the animals leave them be. Sadly this was not the case as they small troop of animals only began to chase after her. The two pik pik birds atop her head chirped loudly in protest at her sudden movement before just gripping harder onto her horns.

"Shit!"

She swore as she could feel the wooden tree bark sled crack loudly against the forest floor as she ran. She glanced at the growing crowd behind her and felt her blood grow cold as she saw a terrifying sight behind the group of smaller and harmless animals.

"Oh shit!"

She yelled as she quickly gave up and turned around and hauled Sierra's cocoon into her arms and left the makeshift sled behind without a second thought.

'Was that a fucking Nanti leopard?'

She swore to herself as she clutched tighter onto the cocoon. The leopard was a semi-aquatic monster of a beast, although it was fastest in water where It thrived it was still fairly quick on land. It's flat head and snout, it's four eyes staring intensely at varies's form before it, the fin-like frills on either side of its flat tan and brown speckled face flared widely as she jumped at a nearby tree, her light gray and violet skinned left hand scrambling for one of the branches as she held the cocoon tightly to her chest with her right. Her legs swinging her forward she spun herself onto a branch that was higher up her left arm quickly latching onto the trunk of the tree all the while and watching as poppy and Derek flew onto another branch while squawking loudly in annoyance of Varies's quick movements.

She climbed higher into the tree still clutching onto Sierra's cocoon all the while. When she was a good four feet off of the ground the small group of animals including the more ferocious nanti leopard stopped at the bottom.

'Fuck my life'

she swore to herself as she sat herself carefully on the branch she stood on. It was a fairly thick branch and didn't seem to be that weak either much to her relief. She held onto the large cocoon the feeling of warmth it seemed to emanate from it, it's slightly sticky texture causing her skin to stick to its top layer.

"Guess I know what element your best at now"

she muttered to herself glancing at the large cocoon, feeling under its surface the barest movement. She could only sigh softly at the movement.

"I wish you were here right now Sierra."

She said quietly, watching as the animals below slowly began to lose interest, the nanti leopard continuing to stare upward at her intently as it paced back and forth underneath her. It's webbed six legs allowing it to quickly move with ease, the two three pronged horns on its flat head occasionally being butted against the lower trunk. Varies could only pray that the animals would all lose interest eventually.

Sierra felt safe where she was, she was back in the large vast room but the very tall woman was there now. She could vaguely remember what had happened when she had been last awake though it was foggy at best in her land of slumber. She could only think that she was in a much nicer place, the large room had changed drastically since she had last seen it, the once hard gray concrete floor was now mostly covered in a plush grass green carpet that seemed to feel almost exactly like grass. The walls for the most part were still the cold gray they had always been but now the walls closest to the floor were paint a soft sky blue with several clouds painted on the mural like walls. It was definitely a lot more inviting to her, pillows scattered about everywhere and what appeared to be a small sapling had begun to grow in the center of the room. There were a lot more people as well in the room, many of them were nice to her like Michael and the tall woman who still hadn't revealed her name to her though Sierra couldn't help but feel unconcerned about this fact. She felt for the first time in her life a sense of childish bliss, something she hadn't felt in what might have been since she had been in elementary school. She enjoyed it, spending her time in the large room lounging around with Michael, her younger self, the taller woman and two other people. A plump elderly woman with long white hair and a wrinkled face that seemed to glow healthily despite the fact that like Michael and everyone else in the room aside from Sierra herself, she had died long ago. From what Sierra could somewhat tell, she had been dead for a good seventy years. Her name was Anne and she enjoyed telling everyone in the room story's from her life, the other was a young five or seven year old Asian boy that was named dai. Who loved to mostly play with the younger version of herself. Anne's story's were something Sierra deeply enjoyed even as a nagging feeling that she was forgetting someone would know at the back of her mind occasionally.

"Sierra? You okay?"

Michael asked speaking casually with her like she had begun to teach him some of the modern slang she was used to hearing. She blinked snapping out of her thoughts as she looked up at him from the spot of carpet she had been staring intently at without her realizing.

"Ah! Oh sorry Michael yeah I'm fine just got that feeling that I was missing something again is all."

The tall darker skinned man nodded in understanding.

"I know what you mean, I feel that all of the time when I temporarily forget my past"

he paused putting his hand up to his chin, a look of understanding on his face. She nodded at his words.

"Yeah that could be it for me, but I just it doesn't feel like that for me."

She sighed sitting up from where she had been laying on her stomach and watching her younger self and dai playing with each other.

"I can remember my whole life in a way, but I can vaguely remember what happened before I fell asleep last night, I-i think that something bad might have happened last night to me. Or the very least something that hurt a lot"

she slowly said as her mind slowly drifted away to think more about the vague events she could barely remember about last night. She remembered her dreams before she has woken up, she could even remember the sharp intense pain. Vague images of varies's frightened face flashed by along with her own screams of pain, and the sensation of her skin burning to the touch but after that she couldn't recall anything else.

'There has to be something else'

she thought as she looked up to where she noticed the tall woman who looked almost like her stood watching the room with a small serene smile.

"Hold on one moment maybe she might help me remember it"

she told Michael as she got up and began to quickly walk towards the taller woman. Michael could only give her a quick nod as she left.

"Uh- ma'am? I need some help with a problem of mine for a second, if you can?"

Sierra asked nervously rubbing at the back of her neck. The woman glanced at her before giving her a warm smile and nodding at her question

"of course I'd be happy to help you out young one."

Her calming voice washed over Sierra making her sigh softly as a wave of calm came over her. She began to tell the other about her vague memories of the night before and watched as the taller grew solemn at her words.

"I see"

she said quietly her eyes looking downward. She was silent for a short moment before she spoke.

"Sierra, how much do you know about the world of connection and its history?"

Sierra gave her a look of confusion before she responded.

"not a whole lot yet but I really don't see what that has to do with my faded memories?"

"I know it's an odd question for you but please may you entertain me for a moment of your time?"

Sierra was quiet at her words before thinking briefly before nodding. The taller woman sighed softly before giving her a smile of appreciation.

"Thank you, when you wake up next I would like you to when you can ask for as much information about the history of the planet as possible, especially the information about the ancients."

Sierra blinked at her confused for a moment before she slowly nodded.

"I-I'll try to remember I guess."

She replied before quickly asking again.

"But what about my memories?"

The taller woman simply gave her a small soft and warm smile before she spoke.

"They will return to you when you awake little one, do not worry to much about it simply enjoy your time here as much as possible."

She nodded at the taller woman and gave her a warm smile of her own. She hoped that varies was doing alright while she was asleep.

Varies had spent the entire night and rest of the day in that tree, eating strips of the leftover rabbit meat that she had gotten the prior. She had fallen asleep in the tree Sierra's cocoon held in her arms and laid onto her lap. She woke up occasionally during the night to see if the animals below had left. Much to her dissatisfaction all of the animals except the nanti leopard had left. When she had woken up in the early morning, the dim blue light of the early morning sky gently lighting her surroundings as she glanced down and much to her joy the nanti leopard was fast asleep and in a deep one it appeared from spending all of the day and night prior trying to get to her and Sierra's cocoon. She slowly and quietly as possible slipped down to the ground with Sierra's cocoon and poppy and Derek on her horns and as quietly as possible left the area as quick as she could without waking the predator. Eventually three hours later she quickly walked in an attempt to make up for the precious lost time that she had lost the day before. Eventually by the time it was 1:30 in the afternoon the exhausted daemon decided that she had made it a good distance to the capital and began to set up a small camp in a small empty cave. She may have a huge fear of caves but one of this size she could handle, at least she told herself this as she curled in on herself beside sierra's cocoon and fell asleep exhausted from the day's prior shenanigans. Her dreams were nightmarish at best, images of being crushed underneath huge rocks caused her to awake abruptly her eyes glowing brightly as she breathed quickly and slowly calmed herself back down.

'Relax girl, it was just a nightmare, your not in that position anymore. You are fine.'

She told herself before sighing and looking out the mouth of the cave. It had begun to rain outside during her little nap and she sighed exasperated at the sight, even more time would be lost for her limited amount to travel. She sighed and decided that she might as well get as much sleep as she could before she left again. She had laid down on her side and instinctively patted at the side where the large cocoon had been placed. Her body went stock still when she felt the cold stone cave floor instead of the firm and warm cocoon. She jerked up quickly looking at the spot, eyes widening and body going cold at the sight of the empty spot next to her.

"Shitttttt!"

She swore as she stood up, looking around the entire small cave, nothing, Sierra was gone. Panic flooded her senses as she looked towards the mouth of the cave, maybe an animal had come in when she had been asleep and took the cocoon. She swore again and quickly told sierras two pik pik birds to wait for her as she ran outside into the pouring rain. She looked around the area of the cave and tuned her ears to any sound that even remotely sounded like a large animal. She spun around to her left when she heard the large footsteps deeper in the trees. She ran after it her bare feet quick and helping her leap quickly into the air. She wouldn't lose her, she couldn't lose Sierra not after she just got her back! She quickly was behind the large creature that was the height of a one story house. She froze in horror at the realization of what the large creature before her was.

"A Minerva"

she whispered her body frozen as the large dark colored jackrabbit like ears the giant beast had atop its head twitched at her words.

'Fuck'

she swore as the lumbering dark furred beast turned it head towards her.

"Shit"

She whispered out as she looked at the large dark brown watery eyes of it look at her. Her eyes glanced down at the large leathery beak-like mouth the Minerva had and took in the sight of Sierra's cocoon being held gingerly in its mouth.

'Oh fuck oh fuck, what the hell do I do'

She thought panicking as the beast slowly turned its entire body towards her its dark intelligent eyes never leaving her body as it took a few steps towards her. Varies quickly backed away as the creature made its way closer towards her at a slow pace until she whimpered in genuine fear when her back pressed up against the side of the caves entrance and watched as the Minerva slowly at first bent its face close to her form. It's breath wafting over her body and rustling her hair with its breath. She carefully looked up at the beast and spoke loudly and calmly.

"That's my friend you have there!, I would very much appreciate it if you gave her back to me!"

The Minerva's head yanked back at her voice before calmly and slowly sniffing again at her before gingerly setting the cocoon down on the ground before the terrified daemon. Varies watched the event with disbelief and slight fear as the giant beast sat up it's giant clawed front paws resting before it and its dangerous back taloned bird like claws settled. The large tears tracks that went down underneath its eyes along with it's slightly feathered face And the one large set of feathery frills lined the sides of its face was slightly wilted from the rain that poured. Varies carefully and slowly made her way towards sierras cocoon while making sure to maintain an eye on the large winged creature. Memories of the many stories she had read about the fearsome creatures, how they could bond with those of their choice and how terrifyingly strong they were.

'And how terrifyingly strong they are'

She thought to herself as she picked up the cocoon into her arms, amazed that it was still hard like a rock and the leaves and twigs that had stuck to it the day prior were still on it. The thrum of warmth that still emanated from it made her sigh in relief as she looked up at the Minerva again before bowing her head down and speaking again.

"Thank you, Thank you I'm forever grateful for your mercy."

The beast watched her curiously as she spoke before it stood up it feathers ruffling up on its face and around its neck as it stretched its giant wings. She watched in wonder as the creature began to flap its wings and slowly at first, took off into the air. She watched as it flew away into the dim gray rain cloud filled sky and she quickly returned back into the cave watching as poppy and Derek made their way to her chirping and squawking and their feathers ruffled up as she sat down onto the cool hard stone cave floor. For a moment she was quiet before she hugged the cocoon tightly and began to rock herself back and forth a soft quiet sob of relief spilling from her lips as she held onto Sierra.

"Please come back soon Sierra, please."

She sobbed out while holding tightly onto the one thing that had the one person she was missing most held inside it.

A few hours later and the rain stopped, it was fairly dark out but Varies didn't care, she walked carrying he cocoon in her hold, and poppy and Derek on her horns as they always perched there. She made quick progress, stopping once or twice to feed the two birds and snacking on some rabbit jerky along with occasionally doing her business but that was fine. By the time it was the next day and the sunrise broke over the horizon varies was a good three days away from the capital. She continued on regardless, ignoring the deep ache that had settled in her legs. She had to get to the capital as quick as she could, not much of note had happened that day aside from whenever she would look behind herself she would see the Minerva from before a good few yards away. It was following her, she didn't believe the first few times she saw it at first but after she took a short nap she did realize that it was in fact real. She paid it no mind, only hoping it would leave her be after Sierra finally emerged from her cocoon. She could tell by the time the fourth day came by she would have to stop near a water source as she felt jerky movements in the cocoon. It became even more apparent when she watched one of sierras hands through the now almost see through top layer of the cocoon as her hand unconsciously clawed at the surface of it. She was lucky to find a small pond that looked fairly clean and newer as there was hardly anything living in the pond as of yet. She set the cocoon down that had begun to jerk in her arms as she had made her way to the pond. In about ten minutes later Sierra's arm broke through the cocoon, it was a pale off white like it had been before aside from the lack of visible scars that it had on the firearms of it before. Within minutes Sierra had fully broke through the cocoon, her entire body clear of any prior blemishes that varies had seen on her before aside from two small tattoos that were on the former humans right thigh. Sierra's eyes were still screwed shut as she carefully ate at the remains of the cocoon and the opaque liquid that had filled the entire thing. Another thing varies had noticed about Sierra when she had left the cocoon were the four thin slits on her sides, two on each side. The two long thin slits on her back in between her shoulder blades were like the other four closed and only the top layer was open enough to show up visibly.

'Arms and wing pouches'

she thought as she watched Sierra's now more thin form sleep exhausted after moving around and eating the leftover of the cocoon. She had finished her first pupation stage, Varies breathed out a sigh of relief at the sight of Sierra coming out in one piece. She carefully bathed the human in the clean pond, watching as plant life began to grow at the bed of the pond when she had washed the remaining opaque liquid that had covered sierra's form. She carefully dried the other and slowly dressed her unconscious form with what she though Sierra might like. Varies had never been one for outfits and design and thought that a pair of sweatpants and a large baggy T-shirt Sierra had packed when back on earth were good clothes. When she was done she carried the other piggyback and smiled widely happy and grateful that her companion was back in one piece.

Sierra had sometime during her dreams slipped from the large room and instead appeared in her regular dreamworld. Odd flesh and nature fused world and all, it was calming to watch as the world thrummed visibly with life. She just sat and watched peacefully as she would shiver occasionally once in awhile, it was as if someone was dunking her in cold water without her realizing it. She laid on her back and took in the soft lilac and pink sunset colored sky above her eyes closing softly and she felt herself wake up to a world that she was more than ready to face, Unaware of the changes her body had taken during her dreams.


	13. Chapter 12: new developments and a new pal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sierra wakes up after three day's of being asleep, and learn's about some new interesting abilities that she has gained.

Sierra groaned as she sat up and woke up, the bright morning light stinging her sensitive eyes. She sucked in a sharp pained breath as she rubbed at her face in an attempt to wake up. She blinked at her surroundings and grabbed for her glasses that were set beside her.

'Weird I don't remember me falling asleep on my sleeping bag.'

She thought as the once vague memories she had before cleared up drastically. She gasped as she recalled the intense pain that had happened that night before flushing deeply at the memory of stripping her clothes off of herself. She groaned putting her glasses on and burying her face into her hands.

"wonder how long till Varies makes a joke about that night?"

She groaned out as she looked up squinting around the clearing in confusion. Her vision was blurry and everything looked like something straight out of a blurry watercolor painting.

"What the?"

She asked as she slowly pulled her glasses off of her face and blinked in wonder at her now clear and perfect vision. She dropped her glasses in shock as she looked around herself excitedly and confused.

"Holy shit!, I can see again!"

She shouted and odd near endless amount of energy filling her body then. She stood up briefly taking notice of her odd outfit she had on, it was one of her more casual day shirts paired with a pair of fluffy penguin patterned pajama pants. She rose an eyebrow at the clothes before shaking her head and snorting back a laugh.

'Varies'

she thought to herself as she walked onto the forest floor barefooted And being briefly surprised at the comfortable feeling underneath her bare feet instead of the sharp uncomfortable pain she would normally feel. She sighed at the feeling of exactly how relaxed her body felt, the normal ache that she was used to that was usually in her back and neck were missing along with the ache in her arms and legs from sleeping wrong during the night. Instead it felt like she had went through a giant bubble bath that had massaged the stress right out of her body entirely. She felt calm and relaxed beyond anything she had ever felt before, she was quiet for a moment only taking in the sights of the world around her. The thrum of life that seemed to emit from the trees and plants around her filled her with a giddiness that she could hardly explain. She giggled and laughed as she began to run around the small clearing, her legs felt strong and quick as she ran and jumped into the air. Then the sudden urge to climb filled her, she quickly began to climb up one of the nearby trees in the clearing and unlike anything she had ever done before she climbed the tree until she was at the very top of it. She swayed in the breeze that blowed the tree as she took in the breathtaking view of the forest before her. Miles of trees surrounded her, several clearings were nearby, a faint small mountain ridge settled on the horizon beyond the trees. She let out a loud joy-filled shout as she released her hold of the tree and began to plummet down towards the ground. Not a drop of fear filled her body, even as she felt adrenaline pump through her body as an odd floaty kind of energy filled her and she began to fly. Her body twisting and turning in the air as if she had wings. She could feel the thrum of air around her as she rocketed up above the trees and began to glide above them looking down at the world below her. Quickly spotting varies who was a whiles away from the clearing and appeared to be picking something from a bush. Sierra settled onto one of the trees near Varies and chuckled to herself as she sat on a branch above the daemon.

Varies was picking a small blueberry bush that she had found nearby, she had even checked her small plant guidebook several times to make sure that the berries she was picking were indeed blueberries. After a hesitant taste test she was relieved that the berries were blueberries much to her relief.

"Oh thank gods"

She told herself as she filled the small empty satchel bag next to her full of edible nuts and berries along with a few summer onions she had found earlier close to the clearing that she had left Sierra to sleep at. She knew that the other would be safe especially with the giant Minerva nearby that seemed to have kept an eye on the former human with a burning passion. The daemon wouldn't admit but she felt a tad bit jealous of the attention the Minerva paid to the other. She shrugged it off though considering that Sierra was more than likely a pro with the earth element she would of course definitely attract animals of all kinds. She glanced upward briefly at the tree before when she had heard something land in its branches. She had thought that for a moment she had seen Sierra's form but after rubbing at her eyes and looking at the spot again she was relieved to find that the other was not actually there. She didn't have an idea as to what she would tell the other about her new ability of flight if that was the case.

Sierra chuckled to herself as she glided above where Varies was before she began to land back in the clearing from before. She was almost fully on the ground when she heard a high pitched cry farther in the trees. It sounded like something had gotten hurt, she was quick to fly her way through the trees. Her body weaving quickly in between the trees with ease, almost as if she had done something like this before. She quickly arrived where the sound was being made and noticed a large bush shaking violently as if something was stuck inside of it. She moved silently towards the bush and took notice of the sharp and hooked thorns that lined the bush's branches. She was careful to gently move the branches of the brush and throned branches to take in the sight of the strange creature before her. It was the size of a lion cub and had large wings that looked comical on the small light and dark brown colored furred creature. It had somehow gotten itself tangled in the bushes center branches, a thin Branch that was lined with several of the sharp thorns was looked around the creatures feathered and fur covered neck. It thrashed wildly as it struggled to swipe at the thin branch, but only succeeded in making the branch tighten and the thorns to dig deeper into its neck. Sierra took in a sharp and shaky breath as she slowly reached for the branches around the small creatures neck, her movement causing the creature to stiffen and jerk its head upwards at her. She could feel herself look at the creatures curious looking face with a sense of awe and familiarity. She had seen a creature just like this one years ago when she had listened to one of the many hypnosis videos on YouTube, one for meeting your spirt animal in particular. She blinked her eyes, snapping herself out of her thoughts as she forced herself to focus back on helping the small creature before her. She grabbed the branch that was wound around it's neck and flinched slightly as it began to squawk loudly and flap its large wings rapidly working itself into a panic. She panicked slightly before calmly speaking to it her eyes burning brightly as she did so.

"Shhh, it's alright. I'm just trying to help you"

Her voice sounded strange when she spoke, at least to her ears it did. It was as if someone had made her voice echo slightly and filled them with a soothing tone. She watched as the creature stilled and calmed down rapidly before her eyes.

"There we go"

She whispered quietly to herself as she grabbed onto the branch tightly and snapped it in half before quickly pulling it away from the small creatures neck, all the while checking in any other branches had caught onto the creature. She found two other branches that had caught themselves around its taloned left hind leg. She was quick to break the branches off and gently lifted the small creature out of the bush while she gently spoke to it soothingly.

"There we go, your alright lil' guy"

she set it down onto the forest floor away from the bush and gently nudged at its wounds that it had gotten from the thorned branches. She winced at the deep gashes that the thorns had given the small creature's hind leg. She was quick to tear off one of her shirts sleeves and tore it into a single long strip of cloth for a makeshift bandage. She was quick to wrap the wound as best she could with what few supplies she had around her. She helped the creature stand back upright after she had finished bandaging it.

"Sorry that it's not much lil' guy I tried the best I could with what I got."

She told the small creature with a sad kind of smile. She had torn off her other sleeve to use as a bandage for its neck along with a few things of aloe leaves she had found near the trees. Something that she had raised an eyebrow at but didn't question, new planet new rules probably. The creature looked up at her with it's pair of wet brown eyes that reminded her of a dog's in a way. She tilts her head curiously at the creature that simply stood before her and just watched her with as much interest as her to it. It tilted its head like her its two feathery frills on either side of it head rise up to make it look a little bit bigger. Sierra blinked at the movement but gives a gentle smile to the small brown beast, quietly taking in it interesting looking form that looks like a mismatch of animals but in a smooth and natural way. The dark brown and black stripes that line its haunches before thinning out to a pattern similar to that of a tiger on it's tail. It's front was clear of any fur patterns and instead was a mix of light brown and tan brown, the front paws looked similar to that of a lion cubs while it's back legs were armed instead with talons like an eagle or another bird of prey of some kind. It's face had to have been the most interesting part of it yet, a pair of jack rabbit-esqe ears topped its head and the large feathered crest that it had on its for head made her note that maybe it could be a male. It had large and dark tear tracks that it had ran underneath from its cornea reminding her of the tear tracks that cheetahs had on their faces. It's eyes were a dark brown, round and watery like a dogs but were filled with a warm intelligent look. The beak was short and leathery the two small flaps on the top of it flared as the creature breathed. She sighed in relief that the creature didn't look too worse for wear.

"Alright lil' guy, looks like your alright for the moment."

She gave a warm and welcoming smile to the creature while it simply looked up at her its tail wagging slowly behind it as she spoke. She waved goodbye to the creature speaking again,

"Alright well I hope you won't get stuck in any brambles again lil' guy, I'd stay longer with you but I gotta get going."

She chuckled nervously rubbing the back of her neck as she could pick up the slight sound of varies calling for her.

'Shit, I better hurry before she starts getting worried.'

She thought to herself as she turned back to where the campsite had been and began to start walking. The sounds of soft padding following her closely as she did so. She glanced behind her to see the small beast following her easily.

'not again'

She groaned in frustration to herself, she had during certain occasions back home befriended cats and dogs alike, enough so that they would walk up to her and beg for affection. Sierra gave in and knelt down to pick the creature up into her arms, surprise filling her when the beast jumped into her arms without hesitation. She shrugged before turning back towards the camp and spoke quietly to the small beast

"hold on lil' guy it might be a lil' bumpy okay?"

She said quietly to the creature that was curled up in her arms. She only blinked in surprise at the slight nod she got from the beast.

'Alright then guess some creatures here have the capability to understand human speech'

she though to herself before she began running and leaned up into the air and began to fly quickly to where Marian called out for her.

"Sierra! Sierra!, where in the world is she?"

Varies muttered to herself after she had called for the human a couple times. She stood in the clearing taken aback at the sight of her missing.

'Maybe she woke up went to look for you?'

She thought before shaking her head.

'No that can't be it, besides I wasn't that far away from the camp'

she sighed before calling again for the human.

"Sierra! Sierra where the fu-"

"Varies! I'm over here!"

Sierra's voice interrupted her words. She looked to her left to see Sierra flying towards her holding something in her arms. Varies went stiff as her mind took in the sight of Sierra without her glasses and flying in the air while holding the same Minerva from before in her arms.

'You have got to be fucking kidding me.'

She thought as Sierra landed gently before her, the dirty blonde's hair wind streaked and messy from her flying and a wide beaming smile across her face. The one thing varies took note of most was the sight of her eyes that seemed to have a slight glow underneath the iris of them. A dull blue light that made the former human look more awake and alive than she normally did.

"Oh wow, Sierra you can-"

'you can fly and are currently holding one of the most dangerous creatures in all of connection in your arms like it's a house cat.'

She thought as she struggled to come with something reasonable to say.

"I know, I can fly!, and my eyes are better now so I don't need my glasses anymore and I feel amazing and my body isn't aching or anything anymore!"

Sierra went on quickly interrupting the daemon a wide excited smile on her face. Varies simply glanced at the Minerva held in the others arms and nodded towards him.

"And him?"

The other smiled widely when she mentioned the small beast and spoke warmly.

"Oh this lil' guy?, I just heard something crying a little always from camp so I went to go see what was up and I saw this one stuck in some bramble."

She smiled and gestured with one hand quickly to her torn off sleeves.

"So I kinda, patched him up?"

Her voice went high pitched as she sheepishly admitted that she tore her clothes up for makeshift bandages for a creature she found hurt. Varies gave her a blank look before sighing and holding her face in her hands.

"I, Alright I guess."

The daemon said her voice filled with a tone Sierra could only recognize as being done with someone.

"Did I do something wrong Varies?"

She asked raising an eyebrow at the others reaction. The daemon only shook her head exasperated before she began to speak again.

"You haven't done anything wrong dear it's just, your holding a Minerva like it's a puppy or something is all."

"A what?"

The human asked looking confused at the others words. Varies blinked owlishly before she spoke up.

"the animal your holding, it's called a Minerva."

"Oh wow that's pretty cool."

Varies could only give Sierra a blank look at the lack of a reaction.

'Guess they don't have Minerva on earth or at least anything like them.'

She thought to herself with a bit of humor before she shrugged and began to clean up the camp.

"So what do these guys do anyway?"

Sierra asked curiously glancing to the daemon who had begun rolling up the sleeping bag that she had been sleeping on before. Varies paused in her cleaning before she spoke quietly.

"Minerva's?, well for one thing considering how dangerous they most people wouldn't hold them like their harmless."

Sierra gave her a look of confusion before the daemon continued on with her explanation.

"Their one of the most dangerous animals here on connection."

The human blinked at her words quickly glancing down at the Minerva in her arms.

"one of the?"

She gasped as she held the Minerva back from her chest slightly before taking in the small creature again. It yawned cutely it's beak opening up to reveal hundreds of small thin needle like teeth. She blinked at the sight before speaking again hesitantly.

"w-what about them are exactly dangerous?"

Varies sighed as she tied the sleeping bag into a tight roll and strapped it onto the backpack that she had been carrying for the past three days.

"Well aside from how strong they are physically, their more well known for their bonding process and being able to develop the same attributes as their owners or the people their bonded to."

Sierra heaved a sigh or relief at the mention that being physically attacked was the least of her worries, as she brought the Minerva back to her chest and began to gently scratch at its head watching in wonder as it began to churr loudly. It's odd purr a mix of throaty purrs and high pitched chirps, she could feel her heart melt at the sight of the creature in her arms a quiet little 'dawwww' slipping past her lips as she watched the Minerva but it's head against her hand it's rabbit ears folding back all the while.

"Sierra! What in gods are you doing?!"

Varies cried out looking up from her cleaning to see the human treating the beast like it was a pet. Sierra flinched back from the reprimand before giving the daemon a sheepish smile,

"Sorry, I-i mean just look at him!"

She said as she lifted the Minerva up under its front paws to the daemons face, who flinched slightly at the sudden movement before she took in the sight of the cub sized Minerva who watched her with its watery dark brown eyes, it's tail swishing behind it as the human held it.

"Uh- I mean yeah it is but still you should let it go, I mean I literally just told you that it's one of the most dangerous animals here on connection."

She said giving Sierra a look of apprehension. The other made a small frown before being the small beast up to her face and hugged it gently before carefully placing it down onto the ground even as her heart felt heavy at the action.

"But he-he's so damn cute Varies."

Sierra said her eyes round and sad. Varies could feel her resolve slipping before she felt a nudge on her bare leg. She glanced down to see the Minerva rubbing up against her leg, a look of knowing in its watery brown eyes. She glanced back at Sierra who gave her a slight watery frown while her hands clasped together in while her eyes seemed to beg to her. She sighed frustrated before she broke.

"damnit fine! Alright you can keep him but so help me we are not turning my house into a zoo!"

Varies said causing Sierra to whoop in joy, the Minerva and two pik pik birds joined in with their own sounds of celebration. Varies could only sigh and hope that they could make it to the capital before anymore animals joined their group.

"I think I'll name you koukai"

"what?"

Varies asked at Sierra's odd name for the Minerva. Of all the names Sierra could have thought of she had to name him koukai. Sierra gave her a sheepish smile at her response before she began to explain herself.

"It's the name of my spirt animal, at least I think it is?"

She furrowed her eyes in thought briefly before she continued.

"Anyway he looks just my spirt animal too! Just a little more well actually a lot more smaller than it."

Varies blinked at the humans words, before she processed them.

"Wait what?"

"Yeah so I back when I was 19 I did this hypnosis thing on YouTube to find my spirt animal and well it looked just like koukai!"

Sierra answered with a sheepish smile. Varies could only blink at the response before raising and eyebrow and hesitantly asking.

"was their any creature like the Minerva back on earth that you've heard of or seen?"

Sierra blinked at her question before pausing to think about it before shaking her head.

"Not really, at least nothing that had physical proof of existing on earth. I mean aside from all the prehistoric animals and species from back when the planet was still new and young. Then there's the ones that are just plain fictional."

Varies gave her a confused look

"like what?"

"Well y'know like dragons and unicorns, maybe even elves and gremlins."

She paused to think her eyes looking upward while she thought.

"Oh yeah! There's also tons of ghost stories too on earth, then there's the stories about griffins and hybrid-like beasts."

She glanced down at koukai in her arms who simply nuzzled up against her cheek with a slight chirp. She smiled warmly at the touch as she held him closer to her chest and scratched the back of his head.

"But never before had I seen anything like him on earth, let alone any stories about creatures like him."

She seemed to sigh at the thought, her eyes growing sad as her mind went to the many memories of her studying dozens of mythical creatures and the origin stories for them. Dragons, vampires, werewolves and unicorns filled the many books she would read or fill the words of the stories she would hear of. Wendigos, aliens, and kelpies filled her with awe and wonder at the sheer possibility for them existing. Due to these fantastical stories, she would come up with many of her own, designs for creatures unlike anything on earth or anything like what others had come up with. Creatures that she would show to her friends and family, Sierra just in general loved learning about near impossible creatures and fantastical worlds that laid beyond the sight of human reasoning. Greek myths filled her middle school years and Japanese culture and myths mystified her. At the end of the day the human was a nerd to put it plainly, a nerd for myths and legends that would fill her world with wonder and understanding. Varies watched Sierra, taking in the bittersweet smile painted across her lips and how her eyes seemed to become distant and faraway as if she was becoming lost in her thoughts.

"Hey"

she spoke up breaking the other out of her thoughts.

"Earth will still be there for you after all of this, nothing is going to change to it I promise."

The daemon tried to soothe the other, Sierra gave her a sad smile before nodding and lifting a hand to Derek and poppy who were perched onto the others horns.

"I know, it's just."

She sighed softly a small smile forming as the two pik pik birds hopped onto her stretched out arm and hand, chirps and coos spilling from the two birds as they did so.

"I just i'm still gonna miss it. there's no preventing that."

She gave a slight shrug as she spoke, bringing the two birds two her shoulders and chuckling as they hopped onto her shoulders and quickly flapping away from koukai when he sniffed at them. She looked up back at varies's face before she went on.

"That's how most things in life are, beautiful and painful at the same time and there's no changing it."

Her smile grew a little more as she spoke.

"But that doesn't mean I'm going to let that get me down anytime soon, at least not again."

She said her smile growing warm and knowing. Varies could only blink at the others words, Sierra words were very smart in a way. She blinked before giving the human a warm smile of her own while nodding in agreement with the others words.

"Well lets get going to the capital dear, I can't wait to tell you everything about it."

Sierra's smile grew warmer as she chuckled before she followed Varies again for the first time since waking from her three day long slumber.

"So you're telling me that this lil' guy, had been following you the past three days straight?"

Varies nodding at the humans question.

"Yes, in fact he had even while I had been asleep on the second day stolen you from the camp we had been in."

She grimaced at the memory. Sierra simply laughed at the news before she began to speak to koukai in her arms.

"Aww were you a lil' Turd to Varies?"

Koukai simply responded with a slight huff before turning his head away and Sierra heard a voice in her head.

'I apologize for antagonizing your traveling companion'

it was a deep voice, something that Sierra would have expected from a middle aged man or a very deep voice from a young 20 year old. Regardless the voice alone had freaked Sierra out,

"HOLY SHIT!"

She jumped at the sound of the voice, unconsciously tightening her hold of the male Minerva in her arms so as to not drop him.

"What?! Sierra what's wrong?"

Varies asked concerned for the sudden shout from the normally calm human.

"I heard a guys voice!, in my head!"

The dirty blonde shouted much to her two pik pik birds displeasure. Varies blinked at the others words before glancing down at koukai who blinked at her gaze before looking away.

'No, there is no fucking way he already bonded to her is there?'

Varies thought to herself before glancing back up at Sierra who was still going on about the voice she had heard.

"And it was so fucking weird too, just showing up outta nowhere!"

"Sierra"

Varies tried to get the slightly panicking humans attention.

"I mean there is no way that should have happened right? No way in all of he-"

"Sierra!"

Varies yelled snapping the human out of her panicked thoughts.

"What?"

She asked snapping her head back to Varies.

"that was koukai talking to you"

The daemon said as if it was the most normal thing for her to say. Sierra could only blink at her in confusion before she squinted at her words in confusion.

"Wait what?"

"That was koukai's voice you heard dear."

The daemon repeated slower than before as if to not scare the other with the news. Sierra could only blink owlishly at her words before looking down at the Minerva in her arms.

"So koukai can talk?"

She asked raising an eyebrow at the other. Varies made a look of hesitant disagreement before she shook her head no.

"not exactly, Minerva's can't speak to us vocally in a language that you and I can understand, but they can however communicate with the person they have chosen to bond with."

She said slowly as if hesitant to answer the others question.

"So"

Sierra began slowly.

"your telling me that only I can hear him?"

She finished her question a look of curiosity and bewilderment on her face. Varies nodded a look of weak agreement on her face as she did so.

"huh"

was all the human said as she continued walking onward, Varies blinking at her lack of a reaction before hesitantly walking alongside the other.

A few minutes had passed before Sierra spoke up again.

"so what did you mean by bonded exactly?"

Varies only sighed softly at the question before she spoke up herself.

"Minerva aren't called one of the most dangerous animals here in connection for no reason"

she paused letting Sierra soak in her words before she went on.

"Aside from there natural ability to change their size, fly, incredible senses of smell and hearing, they also can as I probably had mentioned earlier. Can adopt the abilities that their 'owners' possess."

The daemon sarcastically made ginger quotations marks around the word owner a look of slight annoyance crossing her features briefly.

"Meaning if someone, let's say for example a very dangerous and malicious person with extremely dangerous abilities were to be bonded with a Minerva, that person could very easily bring forth a horrific revolution, like perhaps"

she paused looking for the word she thought would best suit the scenario.

"A dictatorship, or even if they were dangerous enough could even bring the end of an entire sector if they so wished."

She glanced at Sierra who had held koukai even closer to her chest as if to protect the currently small Minerva from the hypothetical scenario.

"But that is all hypothetical, the three ancients had in order to prevent such a scenario from ever occurring, made the Minerva produce less offspring, mate less, and even very picky in who they choose to bond with."

The daemon smiled halfheartedly at her words, her glowing violet eyes filling with a brief glimpse of sorrow that made Sierra feel bad for the Minerva in her arms.

"Wow, So I guess I must've been really lucky that koukai wanted to bond with me, right?"

Varies was silent at Sierra's halfhearted response that sounded like she was nervous and still in shock at the entire apocalyptic scenario that she had only briefly described. A brief moment passed before she nodded, a weak smile on her face as she replied,

"Yeah it is really lucky."

After that the two walked in uncomfortable silence as they made their way through the woods.

Sierra's mind was in a strange foggy like daze as she walked with Varies, her arms curled protectively around koukai who had long since fallen asleep in her arms a good hour ago. She felt happy and content almost, aside from the anxiety that came with her odd circumstance. Her body was awake and energized, as if she had chugged down glasses of nothing but straight caffeine. She could feel her legs easily keeping pace with Varies, along with the urge to want to fly through the air at top speeds much to her confusion. She knew she could fly now but her mind was filled with questions as to why? she could fly now. Humans didn't fly, no matter how much they wanted to they couldn't without the aide of ginormous metal flying machines that had been built so people could travel to other countries and city's easier, travel to outer space with terrifying ease. Let alone explore places no human had any natural right to be! But this? Her body magically healing itself of her poor eyesight, and her decade worth of aching bones? This was well and truly weird even for her standards of weird.

"Varies?"

She asked snapping the daemon out of whatever thought she had been thinking about deeply.

"Huh? Oh! Yes Sierra?"

Sierra hesitated briefly before she asked genuinely afraid of the answer.

"Why can I fly now exactly?"

Varies went stiff at the question, of course Sierra was bound to ask her about the sudden and physical changes that had happened to her, though perhaps the daemon had been hoping to be back in the capital when Sierra decided to ask her. She sighed softly, her mind a whirlwind of emotions and anxious concerns. She could feel herself getting sick to her stomach.

"well"

she began before being interrupted by Sierra.

"I mean it's not just me right?, that the whole Suddenly magically being able to fly thing is kinda weird right?"

The human asked her eyes worried about the situation. Varies could feel guilt filling her even more as she took in the others worried expression. Her stomach twisted as an idea for a convincing answer popped into her head.

"well, there are some instances where people mostly humans when they come to connection they go through a type of physical change."

She felt a bitter taste in her mouth as she spoke her words. Sierra blinked at her answer before thinking about it, it would make sense, Varies had told her even before she came to the planet that many humans from hundreds of different worlds and universes came to connection and that magical like abilities were common on the planet.

"Oh! Okay so it's like my body's just finally gotten used to the planet right? Kinda like someone getting used to a higher altitudes or lower depth right?"

She asked a look of understanding gracing her face. Varies could feel her guts twist as Sierra accepted her explanation.

"Yeah just like that, except it can be more painful and nauseating than your ears popping from a altitude change."

Sierra smiles in understanding and nodded accepting the other answer, unknowingly not taking note of how nervous the other looked or how the daemon seemed to look away with a look of guilt on her face.

"Alright! Well that's pretty cool!, I can't wait to tell Sam about this when I'm able to talk to them!"

The human said smiling widely as she walked on a slip in her step as Varies watched her go ahead of her, violet eyes watching the plants around Sierra's feet peeking up and growing greener with each step she took, the plant life seemingly matching the others emotional state. She grimaced to herself not proud of what she did before quickly catching up with the faster paced human.

'you'll tell her the truth when you and her are more settled in, your not trying to hurt her. Your just trying to not overwhelm her with that mess of information. Just wait till she and you are settled in and then tell her the truth. She'll understand if you explain yourself, you know she will.'

The violet eyed daemon told herself as she caught up with Sierra and lead her the final stretch to the capital of sector 7 her home town and where she worked. Only praying to whatever higher being that would listen to her that Sierra wouldn't hate her after eventually telling her the truth.


	14. Chapter 13: joyful experiences with a hint of melancholy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sierra, koukai, poppy, derek, and Varies finally reach the capital of Varies's home sector and sierra learn's more about her new abilities. Sierra begin's to wonder how everyone on earth is doing?

Varies answered sierras many questions about the capital as best she could as they walked. Samantha had warned her the night before they had left that Sierra would ask her hundreds of questions, Varies had thought the human had been kidding, sadly she had not. She had been one hundred percent serious about the sheer amount of questions Sierra would ask.

"So pik pik birds are really stubborn right?"

Varies only wordlessly nodded her head yes as they walked, her mind silently begging Sierra to stop with her questions briefly, the daemon cared about the human that much was true. What she didn't like was the sheer lack of information she truly knew about her own world to be able to answer the questions the human presented her. She knew deep down that she would for sure have to introduce the human to her twin brother and leave the two alone and only hope and pray that her brother could better answer these questions than her.

"So if they're stubborn does that mean your saying for being very stubborn is 'your as stubborn as a pik pik bird?'"

Varies had to admit many of Sierra questions were very smart and basic ones, but some of them were seemingly nonsensical. She chuckled at the question before she nodded.

"yes Sierra we say that here along with the earth saying of 'your as stubborn as a mule' along a good hundred other sayings that mean the same thing."

The daemon did have to admit that Sierra was quite the curious person when she wanted to be. Varies mostly chalked it up to the fact that she was an entirely different planet than the before that she had lived on all of her life. Sierra nodded her head at the answer Varies had given and seemed to think about it before she opened her mouth again to speak but she didn't say anything. Varies blinked at the silence she was met with, glancing over at the other to see her looking star struck at something.

"What?, what is it?"

She asked as she turned to look at what Sierra seemed so enraptured by. She felt her eyes widen in surprise at the large flowering tree a few yards away from them on the groups left side. She almost couldn't believe her eyes as she took in the large white barked tree, it was a fairly tall tree that towered a good four or five feet more than the surrounding trees around it. It's branches were full of life of all kinds, pik pik birds, squirrels, and several white scaled snakes and small white furred bats. The vines that wrapped around the trees branches and the moss that grew on the trunk gave the tree the appearance of a ancient part of nature.

"A lux arbor tree"

Varies said quietly in silent awe at the sight before them. Large yellow Flowers bloomed on the trees branches and large melon like fruit hung heavy on the trees branches. Sierra ran up towards the tree excitedly, koukai leaping out of her arms all the while and following her closely. 

"It's so beautiful!"

The human exclaimed, tears of overwhelmed joy welling up in her eyes and beginning to spill down her cheeks. She felt so strange when she looked at the tree, almost like she was home in a way, or at least was being welcomed back to one. She was confused at the feeling but ignored it to press her hand up against the large trees moss covered trunk, her eyes growing wide as she felt a thumping sensation underneath her palm. It was almost like a heartbeat of some kind, it frightened her at first before she began to feel something else. It was a gentle sensation, almost like someone was tickling the back of her neck and top of her head. She could feel the life the large tree emanated, wave after wave of gentle life energy came off of the tree and washed over her. She felt giddy at the feeling much to her confusion, but she shook it off and instead giggled at the warm feeling that filled her up as she basked in the tree's energy.

"Varies can you feel it?"

Sierra asked smiling warmly at the other, a giddy sort of calm washing over her as she spoke. She felt at peace with herself, as if her mind finally let her release all of her worries and anxiety's. The daemon came her a confused look before hesitantly walking closer towards her and gently began to pull her away from the tree.

"Uh, Sierra you alright there?, your kinda—"

"yes I fine Varies, I just feel kinda well"

The human paused briefly before going on her closed mouthed smile growing wider as she felt for the first time in what seemed like forever, truly content and happy with herself.

"Happy, like really happy, as if all that I was worrying about just washed away."

Varies simply blinked before glancing at the tree and back at the smiling woman in her arms.

"Okay I think I see what's going on here now."

She said as she released her hold of Sierra letting the human return to looking at the tree in genuine joy.

"Your feeling the tree's lifeforce"

Sierra looked at her a brief look of innocent confusion crossing her face at her words. Varies sighed before she elaborated her words.

"you seem to have the ability to attract both animals and plants, but with plants your able to feel their life."

Sierra still blinked at her confused, Varies sighed before she gently led the human a few feet away from the lux arbor tree in the hopes that the euphoric state the tree had unknowingly gotten Sierra in would lessen enough for the other to understand what she was trying to explain to her.

"Sierra can you understand me?"

She asked when they were about a yard away from the tree, the human blinked before giving her a dopey sort of grin and nodded energetically.

"I could understand you before but I was just a bit confused at what you meant by me being able to attract them? I'm just a normal person not some magical being."

Varies sighed softly at her words before she spoke up.

"but you are remember?, you can fly now and don't you think it's just a little bit odd how poppy and Derek and all of those other pik pik birds from before just seemed to go crazy for you?"

Sierra blinked at the other, her mind going back to the event. It had been an odd thing, especially after Varies had told her that the species were very selective in who they liked touching them and who could pick them up. She nodded slowly,

"Yeah that was kinda odd.... wait does this mean I did the same kinda thing for koukai?"

Varies shrugged.

"maybe, the only one who would know for sure is him, you might want to ask him about it if you really want to know."

Sierra nodded at the answer before she returned walking to the tree, pressing her palm against the trunk. It felt right to do this, she felt like she was connected to the tree in an odd way. As if she could read the tree in a way that not many could. The human hummed to herself before she decided to test something, she glanced at one of the lower branches, heavy with flowers, vines and fruit, along with a strange chipmunk like creature, deer-like antlers topped its head, its body was covered in fine white fur that had black markings all over its body. It's eyes were the same as a squirrels, along with its front paws but that was where the similarities to a squirrel's physical features stopped. For one it had heel like hoofs and a large curled in tail that seemed to take up half its size. Sierra could only blink at it, curious what the creature was called and what exactly it was. She shrugged away for curiosity for the new creature to instead try to convince the tree to lower the one branch closer to her.

'Please, please lower it for me please.'

She asked the tree mentally as best as she could, her eyes beginning to burn brightly all the while. Slowly at first the branch began to lower, a low groan coming from the branch as it did so. Sierra could feel it, how painful it felt for the tree, she panicked at the sensation. She hadn't wanted the tree to hurt itself, she had just wanted to test her new abilities. The tree didn't stop, the pain growing intensely. She had to figure a way to stop the pain, or at least make the branch bend easier without fear and breaking off.

"Willows"

She whispered to herself suddenly and idea blooming in her mind. She thought of how a willows branches were incredibly flexible, how even a hurricane couldn't make a willow fall.

'Willow bend like a willow'

she urged the branch, praying that the idea would work. She watched in surprise as the branch lowered itself with much more ease than before, the pain fading away as it did so. The branch stopped when it reached where Sierra stood, her eyes wide open in shock at the event that took place.

"Holy"

she started removing her hand from the trunk before she quickly grabbed a couple of the large fruits and one of the flowers careful to not tear the flower as she picked it off of the branch.

"Sierra! Did you"

"Yeah I did"

sierra said quickly a small smile gracing her face as she did so. She smiled up at the tree before patting its branch and watched as the branch rose back up with the same kind of ease from before.

"Thank you"

She said smiling at the tree, her smile growing warmer as she felt the thrum of life from the tree wash over her. She glanced to Varies taking in the sight of the daemon's wonderstruck look on her face.

"I"

the black haired daemon began

"I think that had to be one of the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen in my life."

Sierra blinked at the compliment, her face flushing deeply at the others words.

"I well, it can't be the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. I mean you live on a world where magic is real and creatures like koukai are alive and apart of your worlds culture."

She said looking away her arms curling unconsciously around the fruits in her arms and her hand clenching the stem of the flower tightly. Varies smiled at the other before walking up to her, gently taking the flower from her hand and carefully tucking it behind sierras right ear.

"Well then it must be special if I call you beautiful dear"

she spoke softly, her violet eyes looking deeply into sierras blue green hazel ones. Sierra blush deepened before she spoke up.

"huh, I guess I was thinking the same thing about you."

Varies paused before her face flushed a deep violet. Sierra laughed at her reaction handing her one of the fruits she had gotten from the tree.

"The fruit is safe to eat, the tree told me it was at least."

She said with a slightly confident smile and a vague look of confusion in her eyes at her own words. As if that wasn't a good enough description of the event.

"well I mean, kinda told me without words, but also with words?"

She finished the sentence sounding very confused and slightly frustrated at the lack of words to explain what she had experienced with the tree. Varies gave her a look of vague understanding, taking the offered fruit from the dirty blondes hand as she spoke.

"it's alright I get what you mean, even if I personally have never experienced it for myself."

She smiled softly at the other, taking in the sight of the humans lighting up at her words, a glow seemingly lighting inside of them as she returned the daemons smile back.

Varies blinked in realization that sierras eyes were in fact glowing with a calm blue light the seems to emanate from deep inside of her. Then she noticed the flower in sierras hair growing.

"Sierra your hair!"

She shouted suddenly breaking the dirty haired blonde out of her romantic stupor. Sierra blinked the glow in her eyes fading away quickly as she panicked at the others words.

"What!? Is there something in it?!"

She quickly went over her hair with her hands, her eyes wide with sudden panic. Until she touched the flower that varies had put in her hair from before, blinking in confusion at the realization that it felt like the flower had grown what felt like vines and roots that wrapped around a lock of her hair, as if to prevent it from falling out of her hair.

"Huh, it grew?"

She said bewildered at the situation, before she shrugged quickly accepting it.

"Guess I must've made it grow some more without realizing it?"

She offered confused it. Varies blinked at her lack of a reaction and decided to not push the matter any further lest she annoy the human.

"I suppose so Sierra, but regardless of these new developments we are getting fairly close to the capital now."

Sierra perked up at her words, seemingly forgetting about the past events that had happened in the past half hour.

"Really?"

She asked excitedly, her eyes looking at the violet eyes daemon excitedly. The daemon nodded, a amused smile on her lips all the while.

"yes Sierra, if we keep walking we should be able to make it to the outskirts of the city in about an hour or so."

Sierra blinked at her words before smiling, a mischievous look shining in her eye suddenly. Varies, taken aback at the look hesitated before speaking up, struggling to keep her voice level as she did so.

"What?"

Sierra smile widened slightly a small chuckle slipping from her lips as if what she was thinking about was humorous to her before she spoke up.

"I was just thinking that it shouldn't take us that long now that I can fly, I mean I coul-"

"no we are not flying to the capital, I mean I don't even know if your able to even pick me up and hold me while flying dear!"

Varies interrupted the human quickly, her stomach sinking at the suggestion that she was even trying to suggest to her.

"What?!, really? You've gotta be kidding me!"

The human said raising her voice slightly in surprise at the others quickness to shoot down her plan.

"Sierra I mean think about it, you don't completely know the full extents to your abilities yet and I highly doubt you'd be able to lift all of us on your person."

Sierra paused to think about Varies's words. The daemon did have a point, Sierra admitted that she had just woken up that day and may have been getting a bit ahead of herself.

"Yeah"

she sighed in resignation.

"your right, sorry about that guess I got ahead of myself there."

Varies gave her a soft smile.

"It's alright dear, you just got caught up in everything I suppose."

Sierra nodded rubbing the back of her neck with her left hand after making sure she was holding the fruit in her right arm.

"Hehe yeah.... sorry again for that."

She blushed deeply at the others words. She shook her head quickly after trying to prevent herself from going down the negative thoughts that she often had after she made a joke of herself, At least when she wasn't trying to.

"Let me just take a picture of the tree real quick and we can start heading to the capital again."

The dirty blonde said giving the other a warm smile. The daemon made a concerned look at the other briefly before she went on.

"Alright I'll just put the fruit up in you bag while you go do that dear."

She said giving a gentle smile to the other before she took the large fruits from the dirty blondes arms. Sierra smiled at her before she turned and pulled out her phone and began to take several pictures of the tree, the animals in it and of herself, koukai, poppy and Derek and managed to sneak a quick one of Varies while she was organizing some bags of hers. Sierra looked over the pictures she had taken before turning her phone off and joining up with Varies.

"Alright finished taking my pic's, ready to go Varies?"

She asked feeling anxious to see the capital. Varies chuckled at her anxious excitement before she nodded.

"Yeah I'm ready just wanted to go over some of the stuff we have is all."

She said as she began to lead Sierra the rest of the way to the capital. The human followed after only stopping briefly to look back at the large lux arbor tree giving it a warm smile before she began after Varies again. Soon after the small group left the area the tree seemed to flourish not long after, several of its flowers wilting away and revealing quickly growing fruits, its leaves growing greener and more lush before it finally stopped at a point before at the base of the tree a small patch of bright indigo flowers bloomed from the ground where Sierra had stood moments before.

"Varies"

"hmmm?"

"Is the capital big?, I mean is it huge compared to city's on earth?"

Sierra asked the violet eyed daemon as they walked on. It was about 5:30pm now, they had been walking for the past 30 minutes straight now. Varies paused at the others question to genuinely think about it.

"Well"

she began, her eye scrunching slightly as she thought about it.

"compared to earth's largest city, it is fairly large compared to it, but it isn't the largest city in all on connection. That goes to a different sector."

Sierra nodded at her answer before she went on.

"So is it really just called the capital or does it have a real name?"

Varies nodded at her question.

"it does have a name but it's sadly somewhat hard for me to pronounce much to my embarrassment to admit it."

The daemon looked down at the ground a look of embarrassment covering her face. Sierra smiled at the other in understanding before carefully giving her a gentle side hug.

"It's alright honeybee, I have a hard time correctly pronouncing stuff too."

Varies gave her a sheepish smile before narrowing her eyes at the nickname the human had given her.

"Yeah your right- Wait honeybee?"

Sierra looked away releasing her hug and blushing darkly at the other pointing out the nickname.

"Yeah sorry I couldn't think of a good nickname to call you so I just said the first thing that popped in my head. It was either honeybee or grape."

She admitted looking away embarrassed. Varies blinked before laughing loudly at the others words.

"what?! It's not that funny!"

Sierra raised her voice at the other lightly smacking at the daemon's shoulder that was closer to her. Varies laughed even harder at the humans reaction,

"Sorry I just-"

she tried to speak before becoming overwhelmed with laughter again. Sierra chuckled at her struggling to not laugh loudly with her, before eventually she broke down laughing with the other. After a few minutes the two finally relaxed and took in large gulps of air, still shaking slightly with remaining chuckles.

"Woooo, that was a good laugh."

Sierra said smiling widely while wiping her eyes with her hands to remove the tears of joy that had spilled out during her laughing fit.

"Yeah, whew! I haven't laughed that hard since when we first met."

Varies said smiling. Warmly at the other. Sierra smiled at the other words, that was right wasn't it? Back that first day at the campsite when Sierra had went to the bathroom she met Varies or rather Marian back then. She sighed warmly as she replayed the memory in her mind, when she thought about it. This whole thing had kicked off because she had went to the restroom, it was a surreal thing when she thought about it. One event had led her to meeting Varies and then one thing lead to another before finally the events that had happened to bring her here. She felt numb and cold as she thought about it, what would have happened if she hadn't went to the bathroom when she did?, would she have still been at home on earth right now? She could feel her smile slipping off of her face as she though about it. Her actions had led her to this current spot in time and space, and her future actions would help unfold her life ahead of her.

"Sierra?"

Varies's voice broke through the others thoughts.

"Huh? Oh sorry about spacing out there on ya' Varies."

She said giving the other a halfhearted smile.

"Are you alright?"

The blacked haired daemon asked concern clear on her face as she spoke.

"Oh yeah I'm fine, was just thinking about how me going to the bathroom that first day we met pretty much led us to where we are now."

Sierra said her eyes going distant as she spoke.

"I was just wondering about what would have happened if I hadn't went to the restroom at that time? What if I had decided to just go outside in the trees or something instead of going to the public bathroom they had at the campsite? Would it have done anything? Would it have changed anything at all? Or would it have not mattered at all in the end?"

Varies blinked in shock at the humans words, concern filling her as the other went on.

"Would it have prevented you from getting shot in the arm?, would it have prevented me and my brother from having that fight? Or would it have happened regardless of what we did?"

Sierra froze suddenly realizing what she was saying.

"Ah! Sorry Varies, I didn't mean to dump all of that on you. You shouldn't have to hear me worrying about stuff like this"

she said taking in the others look of concern before she looked away her cheeks heating up in embarrassment and humiliation as she spoke.

"Sierra..."

The daemon said giving her a worried look,

"it's okay if your regretting coming with me."

"I'm not regretting coming with you!!"

Sierra shouted her face splitting into a look of shock at the others words.

"I'm happy that I came with you!, I mean in the two days that I have been awake here I've seen animals and plants that aren't even a thing on earth! In case you haven't noticed yet I'm a huge fucking nerd for shit like this!"

She went on her voice cracking slightly as she spoke up, koukai and her two pik pik birds backing away slightly from her as she seemed to grow slightly distressed.

"I'm just thinking about what if I could have done something different so you didn't get hurt the day we left or when I was asleep for the last three days if I could have helped in some way?"

The human shouted tears beginning to well up as she grew frustrated at herself, a pang of longing going through her as she thought about iris and Rosanna and how she hoped that they were doing alright without her. How she wished they were still with her, they would know how to calm and soothe her mind in a way not many people that were close to her knew how to do.

"What if I could have stayed awake long enough when you took iris and Rosanna out of me that they could have stayed with us and helped you out when I was gone for three days!"

She began to sob her mind becoming overwhelmed at everything that had happened to her in the last week. Varies was frozen still as she took in Sierra's distraught form, watching horrified as the human grabbed onto her long dirty blonde hair and yanked at the locks, terrified for the other as she tore out some of her hair.

"Sierra!"

She called out before she wrapped her arms around the other tightly in an attempt to calm the other down.

"Shhh, it's alright Sierra it's going to be okay! I promise"

the taller daemon held the other close to her chest and struggled to pry her hands away from her hair, causing the other to sob out frustrated.

"There's nothing you could have done about what happened this past week."

She said lowering herself and Sierra to their knees onto the grass underneath them.

"As much as I wish we could have the ability to change what happened in the past there isn't anything we can do about it."

Sierra had gone silent listening to Varies's words, silent tears streaking her face as she shook with held back sobs.

"But the only thing left for us too do is keep moving forward with our lives no matter the what if's."

Sierra blinked up at her with watery eyes that seemed to still be in mental anguish.

"Even if it hurts for us too do so, I promise you we will get through the next five years here on connection together. I promise we will get through this"

Sierra wipes at her eyes a watery smile on her lips at the others words. She felt koukai, and poppy and Derek on her as the two pik pik birds nuzzled at her cheeks from where they had flown onto her shoulders and koukai nuzzled at her side a whine slipping from him. She smiled warmly at the sensation of the three animals attempting to comfort her.

"I"

She began before feeling her throat close up slightly from her emotions. She coughed before going on.

"I understand, I guess I was just getting a bit overwhelmed at everything that's happened lately is all."

She admitted with a sad smile.

"I guess the whole me getting powers and the ability of flight didn't really help matters even if they are pretty cool."

She admitted blinking away her tears.

"I'm sorry about that, I get like that sometimes when I'm overwhelmed and things feel out of control."

Varies gave her a look of understanding.

"I know what you mean, I get that feeling a lot, but"

she paused looking at the other concerned.

"why did you pull out some of your hair?"

Sierra flushed at the others concern before looking away humiliated at her actions from before.

"It's what I do when I get too upset to an extent, basically when I'm angry and upset and I don't want to hurt anyone so I kinda turn my anger at myself..."

she trailed off as she realized how bad it sounded it aloud. Varies grew concerned at her words,

"sierra! Are you alright? I mean mentally by the way."

She asked concerned for the others mental health.

"Uh yeah I'm alright, just a lil' banged up up here"

She lightly tapped at the top of her head before going on.

"But I'll be alright, it's nothing I haven't dealt with before."

She gave the worried daemon a reassuring smile. Varies sighed before going on.

"Alright if your sure, I just, let me know if you ever need to talk about it or if you ever need to talk to a doctor about it. We have quite a lot of doctors that help many of the people who come to connection through many things they may be going through."

Sierra grew confused at her words.

"doctors? Do you mean a therapist?, oh gosh Varies hun I don't need a therapist besides I wouldn't have a way to pay for it."

Varies blinked at the other owlishly.

"What do you mean pay for it? Mental illness doctors are payed by the grand council."

Sierra looked at her confused at the meaning behind her words. Varies sighed before elaborating her words.

"doctors of all kinds working on connection are payed by our government, so essentially anyone can have an appointment with a doctor for free basically."

Sierra went quiet at the daemons words before it finally hit her.

"Wait what!, you mean I can go to any doctor and not have to worry about medical bills?! Or anything like that?"

The human asked shaking varies by her shoulders shocked at the news.

"Uh- oh gods, yes Sierra you don't have to worry about paying for the doctor, our government here has that taken cared of. All you really have to worry about is scheduling an appointment and signing in when you go to the doctors office."

She said looking wide eyed at the humans excitement. A slight bit of fear going through her as the human leapt up to her feet and whooped loudly.

"yes yes yes! No more worrying about medical bills or health insurance for the next five years!"

Sierra cried out in genuine joy. Varies could only look at the other with genuine confusion and even more concerned about the others mental state.

'I swear if Sierra does go to a therapist I'm going with to find out exactly what in the world is up with the humans from that version of earth!'

She thought watching as Sierra cheered.

"Alright so we should be almost there now!"

Varies said cheerfully to Sierra who was gliding up above her, in the treetops, koukai in her arms, poppy and Derek flying close behind her.

"Noice!"

The human yelled from above her, the slang making varies wrinkle her nose in confusion,

"didn't you mean to say nice?"

Sierra laughed above her, before she shouted again.

"No I meant to say noice!, back on earth it was another way of saying nice. It's still a new kinda saying though since it was made online!"

She said as she began to glide down beside the daemon. Varies smiled at her, the sight of Sierra happy making her chest warm with joy.

"Uh Huh, let me guess a lot of people used this term too?"

She asked in disbelief at the idea of the word being used. Sierra chuckled turning around in the air while maintaining her flight.

"Yeah, I know it's a bit odd to hear but I mean we're talking about the same world where people argue about dumb things like skin color and have wars over religion and slavery of all things."

She said bluntly, Varies blinked at her words before looking at the human in confusion and horror.

"What! That has to be a joke or something right?"

The human was silent her face scrunched up in a hesitant yes.

"Uh"

"Sierra! What the hell is wrong with your planet!?"

Varies shouted in horror.

"Hey you finally said hell!"

"That really isn't the thing you should be focusing on here Sierra."

Varies said rubbing at her face with one hand in frustration at the humans lack of focus of the abject horror she had mentioned about her planet oh so casually.

"Well I mean, honestly there's not a lot to focus on about it. Aside from the obvious, earth's fucked up."

The human said blatantly a neutral look on her face as she spoke.

"Are you okay?"

Varies asked her hesitantly, concerned even more for her mental state of being.

"Compared to people on my planet a good hundred years ago, I'm pretty good. At least I'd like to think so, but than again you are talking to the same girl who's entire generation is labeled as the lost generation."

Sierra said looking away gliding upward above Varies again. Her eyes growing distant, koukai cooed at her making her smile down at him before landing beside Varies carefully and walking with her, Poppy and Derek landing onto the daemons horns as the human landed. Varies gave the human a worried look before shaking her head in disbelief.

"I can't understand how your so neutral about everything you've told me."

The daemon said aghast at the severe lack of a reaction the human gave. Sierra shrugged a nonchlant look on her face.

"well I mean I have lived on the planet all of my life and since I was in elementary school I was taught about the terrible parts of human history on earth and all of the good things that people have done as well."

Varies blinked at the hopeful look in the others eyes.

"Of course earth is kinda fucked up like I said, but at the same time Earth is loved by us. Though many people forget to show it, let alone remember to help take care of it."

She sighed as she turned her face up towards the sky her eyes closed as she spoke.

"I think that maybe just maybe, one day in the future on earth people will learn how to better care for the planet and finally stop fighting with one another over silly things like sexuality, race and religion. Though it's highly unlikely."

Varies rose an eyebrow at the humans words.

"how so?"

"Well"

Sierra began looking at the daemon straightening her stature.

"Every good thing comes with something bad, it's just how the world works. I mean life doesn't not come with death after all"

Varies nodded at the humans words, agreeing with her.

"Yes you are right about that, but I mean that doesn't mean that earth won't eventually realize what's wrong with it right?"

She said tilting her head and looking at the other with a small smile, hopeful for the answer that the other would give her. Sierra blinked gave her a small warm smile before she answered with a sad smile.

"It's not like people on earth haven't already realized what's wrong with the world, a lot of people are just a bit too stubborn to let an argument just end."

Varies went cold at the others words, shocked at the sheer impossibility of a world like that,

'how? How can anyone be this numb to such a serious topic?'

She looked at Sierra again who had started walking again, and held koukai closer to her chest.

'Maybe she's trying her best to forget how awful the world she lived in truly is. Maybe just maybe, she's moving forward as best she can.'

The daemon frowned to herself at the thought.

'I mean that's the best some people can do in certain situations after all.'

She thought as she caught up with the human.

"Sierra I-"

"holy shit...."

Sierra interrupted her breathlessly, voice filled with quiet amazement. Varies looked up confused at the humans words before she followed the others gaze. They had reached the capital without her even realizing it. The daemon could only smile at the sight of her home city, the gnawing sense she felt whenever she left the city was washed away as she took in the city below them.

"Sierra"

She began a wide warm and welcoming smile growing on her face, her tusk-like teeth becoming more pronounced.

"welcome to the capital"

Sierra was amazed at the sheer size of the city, and how clean and beautiful it looked. They were standing at the top of a hill, the tree line sitting at the top of it. She could only smile widely in genuine joy at the sight of the scene before her, quickly taking out her phone and snapping a few pictures of it making Varies chuckle in amusement beside her.

"You don't have to take so many pictures of connection you know?, it's not like your going back to earth anytime soon."

Sierra laughed at her words before she spoke.

"I know that you dork! I just wanna get as many pictures as I can before then. That way I have something to work with before I come back to earth."

Varies rose an eyebrow at her words.

"Work with?"

"I'm going to make a book about connection so when I go back to earth I can teach everyone there about the planet."

She said smiling as she took another picture of the strawberry and clover covered hillside.

"I mean who knows maybe this can help convince people on earth to y'know help the planet."

She said smiling as she took in the sight of the small herd of lambs and sheep that were being watched over by a tall thin gray skinned troll teen. The entire hill had dozens of patches of wild strawberries and clovers along with several wildflowers many of which Sierra had never seen before back on earth. She did recognize a few of them as pink evening lady primrose's, violets and dandelion's. She clapped her hands and hopped up and down excitedly at the sight of the welcoming hillside. She carefully set koukai down onto the ground before putting her phone up into her pocket glancing at Varies. A look of questioning crossed her face before Varies chuckled and sighed.

"Alright fine just don't scare the west ray sheep."

Sierra whooped as she ran down the field still as barefoot as she had been since she had first woken up that day. It was odd to her, she hadn't felt any discomfort at all from walking over the rocks and twigs that had covered the forest floor on their trek here. Koukai ran after her, his size growing to that of a medium sized dog. The human felt at peace as she went from strawberry patch to strawberry patch, picking ripe strawberries that she felt were the best, eating a couple of them all the while as she walked on the hillside. Dropping the tops of the eaten strawberries onto the ground as she did. Hardly taking notice of the quickly growing strawberry patches springing up from the ones she had dropped. Varies watched the spectacle as she carefully got sierras bag ready for her, and readying her own bag all the while. Before she finally walked down to where the human was sitting on the soft grass a good dozen picked wild flowers and clovers in her lap. The daemon took note of the large collar like flower crown the human was working on.

"And done!, here you go koukai!"

She called out to the Minerva before carefully sliding the self made flower collar around his neck. The Minerva cooed at the collar before nuzzling at the others face, licking a stripe across her face making the girl grimace at the stripe of drool that she was across her face.

"Koukai you dork!"

She cried out grabbing onto the Minerva before rubbing her face in his fluffy fur, before she pulled away smirking.

"There now we're even."

Koukai whined at her before laying on top of her pushing her onto the ground making the other laugh loudly at the action. Varies could only chuckle at the two, poppy and Derek chirping loudly to get the two's attention. Sierra glanced upward smilingup childishly at Varies.

"oh hey hun!, don't mind us we're just playing around."

She spoke her face alight with a warm smile on her face that left the daemon smiling without realizing it.

"I can see that."

Varies laughed lightly as koukai later his head on top of Sierra's face making the human shout in surprise.

"Dangit Koukai!"

The rest of what the human had shouted was muffled by the Minerva laying on top of her yawning. Eventually Sierra managed to slip out from underneath him to sit up and look at Varies who was struggling to not laugh at the look of frustration that was on the others face. A look that may have looked terrifying on others made her look like a angry kitten.

"Don't"

She shot warningly at the daemon.

"it wasn't even that funny sweet mirth."

The human muttered to herself faux annoyance in her voice as she spoke.

"Sorry just thought that you looked kinda funny flailing like you were underneath him as you were."

Varies admitted with a sheepish smile. Sierra gave her a unamused look before she chuckled shaking her head.

"Well how would ya feel if he was laying on you?"

Varies went wide eyed at the other.

"What no! Goodness Sierra I wasn't trying to piss you off by laughing about it"

Sierra laughed good-naturedly at the other a warm smile spreading on her face as she picked up Her remaining flowers and stood up.

"It's fine Varies, I was just pulling your leg is all."

She laughed her face alight with joy, making the daemon smile and laugh in return. The humans laughter was so contagious to her.

"Let's get going dear."

She heaved out after her laughter died down. Sierra chuckled before nodding and scratched at the back of koukai's head.

"Yeah I'm ready hun."

She said smiling warmly at the other, as the two began to walk down with one another down the hill towards the city down below.

The capital city of sector 7 compared to a typical earth city was vastly different. For one the buildings reminded Sierra of a german village, most buildings hardly going taller than three stories tall. Of course there were a few that were truly large and more modern looking, but she had only seen bare glimpses of them towering above farther into the city. She and varies were still in what the daemon called the tourist area. Sierra had raised an eyebrow at her words,

"what's that supposed to mean?"

Varies sighed softly before answering sierra.

"you'll see."

Sierra was impressed at the sheer amount of detail on the buildings around her. Everything thing from the front doors to the roof tiles seemed to be covered with thin designs of animals of all kinds.

"Woah...."

Varies chuckled at her reaction.

"don't use up all of your amazement yet dear, we haven't even gotten to the shopping district of the city."

Sierra snapped her head at the others words, her face filled with genuine shock.

"Your kidding?"

The daemon shook her head before she went on.

"of course not this is just the outskirts where most of the capitals population live at."

She explained giving the human a patient smile.

"No fucking way... you mean you have a house like this?!"

Varies blushed at the others swearing and sheer volume, there were a few people walking on the cobblestone road and concrete sidewalks who looked there way with looks of confusion at the loud yelling the human had done.

"Sierra calm down, your being a bit too loud."

She quietly told the other making the human blush embarrassed at her loud outburst.

"Shit!, sorry everyone!"

She shouted after quietly swearing to herself. She lowered her head between her shoulders as the two of them went on walking. Varies shook her head a warm smile of understanding on her face, the human was definitely easy to excite at times not that was a bad thing. She patted the humans head gently before giving her a quick side hug.

"don't worry about it to much, you were just excited is all."

Sierra blushed at the feeling of her head being patted like she was a child, then her heartbeat quickened as the daemon hugged her. Her face red at the others comfort, and how comforting to hugged out of nowhere with an ease she never could accomplish easily.

"Yeah but you still didn't answer my question."

She shot back to the other quickly looking away her face a light red from the sheer embarrassment she felt. Back on earth she, Sam and Roderick hardly ever show all that much affection for one another outside of the dulplex, even before when they had first started their relationship it had been that way. The public affection only went as far as hugs and holding hands, along with the rare kiss to the head. But beyond that she struggled to not being able to show how much exactly she loved and cared for the two outside of their private spaces. Sierra could feel tears pinpricking at her eyes that she managed to hold back, she wouldn't cry, not here not now, Not when they were around others. Varies blinked at the others reaction to the small bit of physical affection before she answered the others question.

"Oh!, gods no. I don't live this far from the capital building, I live closer to the center of the city."

She answered smiling warmly taking in the others flushed face. It was odd the human hadn't been acting like this back in the forest. She wondered if the other had gotten a cold or something.

"Are you alright?"

She asked pressing the back of her left hand up against the humans forehead.

"What?, of course I am! Why do you ask?"

The dirty blonde asked her eyes glowing a bright blue as she spoke.

"It's just you seem a bit red is all."

The wavy haired woman asked looking at the other with concern.

"Oh! Yeah I'm fine, just a bit overwhelmed is all."

Sierra said looking away and pushing a lock of her hair behind her right ear. Varies blinked before giving the other a look of understanding.

"Yeah I can't blame you for feeling that way right now."

She said as they two of them continued on down the sidewalk and deeper into the city.

Sierra couldn't but look in awe at the several dozen people she saw walking around them, gray skinned trolls from homestuck, tall thin light skinned elves that had light blonde hair, and short foot tall elves that had large almond shaped eyes that were bright like gemstones that she had only ever seen pictures of. One of the more odd variety of citizens she saw were the eight foot tall cat-fox hybrid looking people who had bright white masks covering their faces with expressions of all kinds painted onto them. Then there were the few extremely tall bright green and sea green reptilian-esqe that she had watched walk past her. They easily towered over all of the buildings in the area they were walking in, making the human question how exactly they lived in the city, or to be more accurate where did they live? Varies would catch her watching some of the more unique looking citizens intently and would subtly get her to look away so she didn't make the others uncomfortable.

"So where exactly are we going?"

Sierra asked half paying mind to what she was saying as she watched a rabbit like insectoid person who had four arms talking with one of the shorter people who looked like a doll almost with how small they were compared to the taller rabbit insect person. She snapped out of it when Varies waved her hand in front of her face, she looked back at the other a look of embarrassment covering her face as she realized what she had been doing. The daemon sighed before shaking her head.

"it's alright Sierra, I just don't want anyone getting angry at you because of your staring is all."

She glanced around nervously in case anyone had caught wind of her words.

"But to answer your question I'm going to a store nearby to get you some of the essentials that you need here while on connection. Things like a captchaloge deck, strife specibus, things like that. So I'm going to have to ask you this now what kind of weapon would you most likely see yourself using best?"

Varies asked as they walked Sierra struggling not to watch the strange and unique looking alien like creatures around them.

"Uh? Probably a staff I guess?"

She answered sounding unsure of herself. Varies blinked, sighed, before she asked the other.

"Are you sure you want a staff as your line of defense if you ever get into a fight of some kind?"

Sierra blinked at her question finally registering what Varies had asked her.

"what! Why would I need to fight anyone?"

Varies rose her hands up quickly speaking to the human.

"shhh!, calm down it's only Incase you ever get into a fight or anything like that okay?, i honestly don't ever except to get into a fight but since your going to be living here for the next five years it's wise if you get used to the idea of being ready for a fight."

Sierra closed her mouth taking in the daemons words, before she nodded in understanding.

"Alright, I choose a staff, for sure this time."

She said making sure to give the daemon her full attention. Varies rose an eyebrow.

"a staff? You sure I mean you can change it later if you want but you sure you want a staff?"

She asked as they walked closer towards a two story building that had a painted wooden sign hanging above the door that read 'tommy bones and elkwoods capthaloge card emporium and strife blacksmith' Sierra nodded her head glancing at the sign reading it quickly.

'Huh, guess they really have entire stores just for selling strife weapons and capthaloge cards'

she thought to herself surprised at the signs words. Varies nodded giving a brief smile to Sierra before she glanced at the store's entrance before looking back at the other.

"Alright since you don't have a viable ID card yet you won't be able to come inside so just wait right here for a moment, okay?"

The daemon said her eyes nervous as she spoke. Sierra nodded and understanding smile on her face, her long dirty blonde hair framing her face and the large yellow lux arbor flower still hanging in her hair. the sight alone made her look almost innocent and joyful.

"don't worry bout a thing Varies! I'll be right here when you come back!"

Sierra said reassuringly, Varies only sighed and nodded.

"Alright, just stay right here Alright I-I'll be as quick as I can."

She said quickly before looking around at the several shoppers that walked around them than glancing at Sierra who only gave her a confused frown. Varies hesitated before finally sighing and nodding.

"Alright I'll see in you in a bit hun."

She said before quickly giving the human a small peck on the lips before rushing off inside the store. Sierra stood silent for a few seconds before her mind caught up with what exactly had transpired. Varies had kissed her, the dirty blonde couldn't help but flush brightly at the realization.

'Clam down you nerd!, it's not like she hasn't kissed you before!'

She screamed at herself mentally.

"Expect this time she did it around other people..."

She whispered her words to herself flush darkening at her own words. She sighed to herself running a hand though her hair and calming herself down, only to hear a small huff coming from beside her. She glanced down to see koukai now the size of a large dog sitting beside her shaking his head.

"Oh don't you huff at me mister fluffy butt!"

She said chuckling at him before scratching underneath his jaw making him press up against her and letting out his high pitched growly coo purr. She smiled, before looking around at the area in front of her. Smiling to herself

"I wish Everyone back home could see this.."

She said to herself. Hoping that things back on earth were going well.

Back on earth things were going as best as things could when Samantha had gotten a hold of the situation. She and the rest of the group had decided to report Sierra as missing, much to a good few of There's regret. That had been two days ago, after the night Sierra had left for connection many of the party goers had wanted to have time to themselves, Sam didn't hold that against any of them as she had simply helped most of them clean up their belongings. There was only her, Roderick, Tim, drake, Morgan, Nathan and Brenna left by the second day. Sam had called the police the night before and had filed a missing persons report, filled out as best she could with the more believable information that they had for the situation. It was strange for her to think that only two days ago Sierra had been the typical boundless ball of joy that she always was, going around from party goer to party goer seeing if they were alright and happy, To this... Sam grunted as she heaved up another heavy bag of supplies onto her trucks rearbed. She had been silent since last night, hardly speaking a word. She didn't know what to say. What could she say?

'Probably reassure everyone that Sierra is fine'

she thought to herself bitterly. Brenna was standing a bit a ways from her, she had noticed the the curly haired red head from out of the corner of her eye for about five minutes now. She wasn't really doing much aside from looking concerned to worried. Sam gave in and spoke up,

"Brenna?"

The red head jumped up startled at her name being called suddenly.

"Uh yeah?

" Sam sighed brushing some of her stray strands of dark blonde hair out of her face before she spoke.

"You look worried?"

Brenna looked away her face embarrassed.

" I'm not!, I just..."

she trailed off her eyes looking down to her hands.

"Alright I am, I just want to know if Sierra is doing alright"

she relented looking up at the other. Sam sighed her shoulders sagging, she felt so tired. She hadn't gotten much sleep for the past two nights, considering she was busy with talking to the police, helping everybody pack up their things and. She held back a frown as she thought about what she had done after Sierra and Marian had left. How she had easily looked for the two men in black and killed them. How she had taken in the sight of their hidden otherworldly bodies, how she stole all of the strange technology from the suits and hid it in her and sierras room that night, underneath the bed as she and Roderick held onto each other. Worried for the one that tied them together in the first place. How she had sent a text to her, in the hopes that she would get the message and everything else. Her heart hurt as she thought about Sierra, and about the text Marian or rather varies had sent her.

"She'll be fine Brenna"

she said to the other before turning back to the truck and heading up another one of the large bags that they had onto the bed of the truck. Those that had chosen to stay because they wanted to help prepare for when they would leave for the next portal to connection. Or rather those who didn't have much to lose leaving earth, drake was not one of those people. They would drop him off later that day, after making sure that he wouldn't tell his and sierras dad about the events that had happened at the campsite.

Brenna sighed at the dirty blondes answer.

"Are you sure about that?"

Sam could feel a sudden bubble of anger swell up at the others question but calmly replied despite her urge to rip into her hair and scream. She couldn't, she had to stay calm Sierra would have wanted her too.

"Yes I'm positive Brenna, are you sure your not just asking me because you wanted to ask if Sierra is alright?"

She asked straighten up and looking at the other her blue green eyes tired. Brenna stuttered before she spoke up.

"are you okay?"

She asked hesitantly her eyes full of concern. Sam gave her a tired smile before she answered.

"I honestly don't know, I mean the one person in the world I love more than anything is gone from this planet and I killed the two assholes that had shot at the alien that had come to save Sierra from her dictator of a leader and may I add that I have been having some fairly fucked up dreams lately?"

Brenna was silent as the other calmly listed off all of the events that had transpired over the past week. She sighed at the end of her small tirade.

"I'm just as worried about her as you are Brenna, maybe even more worried. Because I know some things about this situation than you do."

Brenna looked at her with confusion.

"w-what do you mean?"

The dirty blonde sighed before pulling out her phone and opening it to her messages the very last message she had gotten from Sierra phone the last thing she had looked at in the app.

💜Sierra💜

•hey Samantha it's me, Varies.

•I'm using sierra's phone to send you this message while I still can

•Sierra started her pupation and I'm so sorry about the last night

•I should have planned this better, I could have planned this better but I didn't

•I

•I'm sorry

•please keep yourself safe, more of those 'men in black' may come after you and everyone that was at the party because of what happened

•please stay safe

Brenna looked up from the text and back up to Sam, her eyes creased in confusion.

"What did she mean by first pupation?, Sam is Sierra in danger?"

She asked panic beginning to shine in her eyes as she spoke.

"She's just fine, I'll tell you and everyone else more about it later. We have to go today now though."

She said her eyes steely.

"Why?"

Brenna asked a small bit of fear for herself ringing in her voice as she spoke. Sam looked away to look towards the woods nearby her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"We're not safe here anymore."

She said before she hauled the last two bags onto the truck and grimaced at what she knew they would have to do. They weren't safe, not since they met Varies. They weren't going to be for a long time.

'God Sierra I hope your safe wherever you are right now'

she though to herself looking up at the sky her eyes burning with images tears as she and the rest of the group packed up the last bit of their belongings and left the campsite before 2:00 even hit.


	15. Chapter 14: welp my heart hurts now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> varies goes and catches up with some close friends of hers while sierra gets to interact with some people of the city, learning some things about the planet all the while, and absolutely nothing emotional or life-changing happen whatsoever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i finally finished this chapter (rip my fingers) and this one is a bit of a doozy. also i got to introduce some side characters that i absolutely fell in love with while writing this chapter.

"Excuse me miss."

Sierra was snapped out of her thoughts by the sound of a child's voice, and the sensation of a small hand tugging gently at the bottom of her shirt. She looked down to be met with the face of a small child. One of the strange cat-fox hybrid people children that is. This one however didn't have a mask, and instead had a revealed face that had three small light brown dots underneath their lupine like eyes. Their pupils small and their eyes a brilliant forest green color. There was a light brown mask pattern surrounding their face and the unmarked parts of their face were a warm beige sort of off white. Their head was topped with a pair of large Fox like ear that had a small tuft of light brown fur at the top of each one. Sierra wouldn't lie when she thought that the child reminded her of a doll of some sort. She also wouldn't when saying that the kid almost gave her diabetes with how cute they were.

"Uh hi there"

She said awkwardly, looking at the kid briefly before glancing around in search of the child's parents or at least one of them. She didn't see any creature or anyone who seemed to be looking at the child so she returned her attention to the small three foot tall child.

"Um where are your parents lil' guy?"

The kid shrugged answering with a simple

"shopping"

she could only blink at the child's short answer.

"Okay?, Uh What is it that you wanted?"

She asked tilting her head to the side confused as to why the child even randomly decided to come up to her.

"Is that a real Minerva?"

They asked their long thin tail wagging behind them, the light off white spots speckled on it and pointed one of their small paw-like fingers at koukai. Who huffed at the question and the pointing finger, Sierra blinked before chuckling.

"Oh koukai?, yeah he's as real as can be."

She smiled warmly at the child who's eyes widened at her words before they began to jump up and down excitedly.

"Really?!, I've never seen a real Minerva this close before!"

The child shouted an excited smile on their face all the while. Sierra chuckled before leaning down closer to the child.

"you can pet him if you want"

she offered smiling warmly at the child. The kid kinda reminded her of when she was younger and how she always dreamed of petting a tiger or any animal really. She couldn't help but offer the chance to pet koukai, she glanced at koukai who seemed to nonchalantly stand up and walk closer to the child who seemed to beam widely at sierras words, their tall Fox like ears perking up to the highest point that was possible for them.

"Thank you so much miss!"

The kid said smiling widely as they began to gently scratch koukai behind his featherlike frills, making the Minerva wag his tail wildly. Sierra couldn't help but smile at the sight, the kid reminded her of her little sister. A pang went through her heart at the thought, guilt and regret filling her as she thought about her younger sister. How was her family doing?, were they upset that she disappeared out of thin air?, would they blame themselves? She could feel her throat tighten up at that idea. She broke out of her less then pleasant thoughts when she felt a clawed finger tap at her arm. She blinked looking down at the small child from before, a look of concern was painted across their face.

"Oh sorry!, did you say something?"

She asked confused at the child's concerned look. Without a pause or beat of silence the child spoke up, their bright forest green eyes creased in understanding as they spoke in a reassuring tone.

"You miss your home don't you miss?"

Sierra could feel her stomach dropping from her as she realized that she must have made a look while she was deep in thought without realizing it.

"Oh!, no just thinking about some less than pleasant stuff lil' guy. Nothing you need to worry about!"

Her words didn't seem to satisfy the child's concern as they folded back their large ears and rung their small clawed paws together.

"It's okay miss, if you miss your home. A lot of people here miss their old home sometimes."

She couldn't help but look at the kid owlishly after their words. It was odd to her that a kid that she had barely met less than five minutes ago was showing concern for her. It felt odd to her, sure adult strangers had shown her concern when she seemed tired or deep in thought when she was either at work or walking to the bus stop to get to work, but a random kid showing so much concern for her? That was unheard of to her.

"Hey, why are you so concerned about how I'm doing?, I mean not that I don't appreciate it none I do, but you don't even really know me. I'm just a random stranger to you kid."

She asked confused at the child's actions but thinking that maybe things like this were common on connection.

'Different planet, different cultures I suppose'

she thought as she watched the kid blink up at her confused at her question.

"Why?, why wouldn't I? If you weren't a good person than your Minerva wouldn't be with you miss."

Sierra paused at their words, taken aback before giving the child a warm smile.

"Heh, I guess your right about that kid, er?"

She scratched at the back of her neck realizing that she really didn't know this kid at all, hell she wasn't even sure if they were a girl or a boy! The child smiled warmly, their flat cat like nose crinkling up as they spoke up.

"My name's henrik! And I'm a repsies!"

Sierra blinked in surprise at his words.

"a repsies?"

She struggled to pronounce the name of his species before she repeated a couple more times and received an enthusiastic nod from henrik, a large smile on his furred face all the while.

"There you go!, that's my spe-ceees name?, sorry I'm not good at saying that word yet...."

he glanced away after apologizing for his mispronunciation of the word, she raised her right hand giving him a warm smile.

"Hey don't beat yourself up about it none kid, you'll get it one day."

She reassured him warmly, making him smile at her.

"Thank you miss?"

He blinked seemingly realizing that he hadn't yet asked her for her name.

"Oh! My name's Sierra! And I'm a human."

She replied getting a confused look from henrik at the mention of her species. He opened his mouth to speak before a voice interrupted.

"Henrik! There you are!"

The two looked to where a tall wavy haired, maroon blooded troll woman, with small forward curling horns the ends jutting back in a straight line. made her way through the crowd, her eyes set on henrik with a look of relief.

"Henrik me and your mother were worried about where you ran off to!"

She said as she made her way to the now standing repsies who lowered his ears and had a look of regret plastered onto his face. Sierra could only watch the exchange wide eyed and confused at it all.

"Sorry momma, didn't mean you scare you both."

Henrik said his tail curling around his left foot, a look of genuine regret crossing his face. The troll woman, Henrik's momma sighed at his words a look of tired affection crossing over her face. Sierra realized two things in that moment, one varies had been right when the daemon had told her no one would judge her for her preference, and two mixed families seemed to be a common thing here on connection from what the human could tell at least.

"Uh...."

The tall maroon blooded troll noticed her finally and gave her a brief warm smile and wave before turning her attention back towards her son.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to, you know we would have been fine if you had just told us you wanted to play outside with the other children we would have let you."

Henrik hung his head low and took his momma's hand seeming to sulk about his past choices. The troll turned her attention back to Sierra who seemed to still be in a slight state of shock at the a+ parenting before her.

"I apologize ma'am if my son henrik bothered you any."

the troll bowed slightly at the human making her flush and sputter out a response.

"Ah! It's not a problem at all, he just came over to ask if he could pet my Minerva koukai here is all."

She said causally barely noticing when the troll stiffened at her words.

"Wait a Minerva?"

She asked before glancing down at koukai who simply yawned and nuzzled at sierras leg causally. She blinked looking up at Sierra again and narrowed her eyes in confusion.

'how the fuck did a human make a bond with a Minerva?'

She thought before she gave Sierra a small nervous smile. It was common knowledge that those who had a Minerva let alone a bond with one were fairly strong and could talk with the Minerva telepathically thanks to one of the common gifts the Minerva had. Along with the fact that if the person in front of her had a Minerva, then she had to be fairly strong and hard to fight.

"Ah! Yeah this is my Minerva koukai!"

She emphasized giving koukai a small scratch atop his head. A trill slipping from the Minerva that was now the size of a large dog. The troll eyed koukai briefly before darting her eyes back to Sierra who seemed to have a warm blissful smile on her face. The maroon blooded troll could feel a small shiver of fear run down her back at the smile.

"Uh of course, again I apologize that my son bothered you and your Minerva miss?"

"Sierra, the name's Sierra!"

Sierra answered with a chirp, tilting her head to the side a warm smile on her face all the while.

"And it's honestly not a problem!, when I was that young I wanted to pet everything that I could get my lil hands on honestly."

She said smiling a warm chuckle slipping from her lips as she spoke. Henriks momma nodded her head her fear quickly melting away as the human went on.

'definitely will have to talk about this with Abigail later tonight when we get back home today.'

The troll thought to herself thinking about the love of her life, warmth filled her chest thinking about the tall light pink and white repsies that was her wife.

"Thank you for being so understanding miss Sierra. My son Henrik is just a big ball of energy lately, you see today is his masking ceremony."

Sierra blinked at her words, confusion crossing her face as she stared at the other owlishly.

"Masking ceremony?"

She asked her voice cracking just slightly as she spoke.

"Ah! My apologies you must be new here. You see my son's species have a special coming of age ceremony that they go through when they become ten years old."

Sierra nodded at her words, taking in the information and storing it away to think more about it later.

"It's alright, me and my girlfriend just arrived here today so I'm still getting used to connection being so well"

Sierra paused making a swirling motion with her right hand as she thought about the right word to describe her thoughts of the planet.

"Uh welcoming? I guess?"

She shrugged an awkward smile on her face all the while.

"It's alright, I perfectly understand what you mean. After all sector 7 is a hub world sector after all!"

The troll laughed warmly after face crinkling up as she did.

"A hub world sector?"

Sierra was growing more and more confused with each word the troll woman said.

"Oh!"

Henriks mother blinked in realization at her words.

"sorry again, I keep forgetting your new here. Let me just get something I have real quick, it might better explain what exactly I meant by that."

She said her eyes going upward and staring up above her seemingly scrolling through something that was above her before she smiled and a reached up grabbing a small stack of pamphlets from out of thin air. Sierra watched bewildered and shocked at the sheer amount of pamphlets that the troll had in her one free hand, her other still keeping a hold of Henriks small paw.

"Here we go!, this should be the basic common knowledge for newcomers to our planet."

She said quickly glancing at the thick stack of what seemed to be twenty or so pamphlets and small folded papers.

"Uh, that's a lot of papers?"

"Oh, hehe yeah my wife works with the tourism bureau here in sector seven so I always have tons of these blasted things on me all of the time"

she smiled embarrassed at the fact that Abigail always made sure that she had a good twenty of these thick stacks Incase she met a person new to the planet.

"She never lets me leave home without at least ten of these things, honestly I wish she just stopped giving me these in general"

the troll said looking away her face a picture of amused annoyance.

Sierra laughed at the other's words hugging the stack of pamphlets underneath her left arm, nodding in understanding at the older troll woman.

"I know how it is, my girlfriend is the same sometimes. Always worrying about how I'm doing, even though if anything I worry the most out of the two of us."

The human chuckled as she spoke, her throat becoming slightly tight as she began to think about how Samantha was doing now.

'Is she okay?, is everything on earth doing good?'

Her mind was on the cusp of racing down an endless and abysmal tangent before she forced herself to focus on what Henriks mother was saying.

"-oh! I almost completely forgot to introduce myself!, how silly of me I swear my wife's short attention span is starting to rub off on me."

The maroon blood said shaking her head slightly a warm smile on her face before she looked up at the others face.

"Regardless my name is calcia, and I welcome you warmly to sector 7's capital of ah mandoiez."

Calcia said as she shook sierras right hand a warm smile on her gray skinned face, her wavy hair framing her face all the while. Sierra could only stare owlishly as she struggled to take in the pronunciation of the capital's name.

'No wonder varies told me that she has a hard time pronouncing it's name'

she thought as slowly retuned calcia's smile with one of her own.

"T-thank you"

She said hearing a voice calling behind the mother and son.

"Calcia! Did you find Henrik?!"

Calcia shouted back to the taller repsies that had white and light pink fur and long floppy ears instead of Henrik's pointed ears.

"Ah, there's my wife now. We're over here Amelia!, I found him!"

The troll quickly turned to Sierra and bowed at her again.

"Thank you again for allowing my son to pet your Minerva Sierra, sorry we weren't able to talk for longer but my family and I have a long day of planning ahead of us!"

Calcia began to walk away waving goodbye to the human who still held the thick stack of pamphlets in her arms.

"And make sure to read those pamphlets! I'm sure they'll help you get used to connection a lot quicker than you'd think!"

Then Calcia was gone, along with Henrik. Sierra could only wave at them as they left her line of sight, she smiled. The whole exchange with the small family had left her feeling warm and welcomed, something she felt had been missing since her and varies had walked into town. Something akin to personality and life, she was starting to see the lives around her that lived in the city. How they went about their day to day life, laughing and joking around with their friends and family. She felt welcomed and blissful at the friendly energy around them. She sat down onto the concrete sidewalk, back pressed up against the brick wall behind her comfortably and watched as the world pass her by waiting for Varies to come back and petting koukai all the while. She felt at peace for the moment even as she missed iris and Rosanna and Everyone back on earth. She felt calm and relaxed as she scratched koukai behind his feathery frills. She was gonna be alright, they would be alright, she was sure of it.

the bell above the stores front door rang out, varies walking into the store a nervous smile on her face all the while. She hadn't wanted to leave Sierra outside of the store, she really hadn't. But she also didn't want to overwhelm the other with everything new on the planet. A warning that Sam had told her back on earth, was that she could get overwhelmed easily when being told a lot of new information all at once. The daemon really needed to talk to the human about how she felt about everything that had happened recently.

"Well I'll be, if it isn't one of my best customers the general of sector 7 herself"

a low gravelly voice spoke up from behind the store counter that was set beside the store entrance. Varies smiled warmly as she took in the sight of the short male arch-elf that smiled up at her his smile full of needle sharp teeth and his solid forest green eyes glinting the store's ceiling lights off of them. She chuckled at the mention of her title.

"it's good to see you again as well tommy bone"

she replied her voice warm and joking as she walked up closer to the counter where she could easily see that he was standing on top of a worn wooden bar stool that helped him reach the top of the tall counter top.

"How's the weather down there today?"

She joked watching as his eyes narrowed at her his needle sharp smile widening slightly as he shot back at her without hesitation.

"Pretty shitty lately but much better now that I got your tall ass blocking the sunlight outta my face."

The two of them laughed good naturedly with one another at the causal jab they made at one another. Tommy bone had been a good friend she had made not long after she had first woken up, and for good reason too. The arch-elf was very adept at his making of simple yet complex strife weapons. Though she couldn't say she ever had been able to use many of his weapons she could tell how much time and effort he put into every single one of his creations. Wood on his creations always had his signature carved design of a large pear tree that was in bloom. Whenever she had asked him about the carving he always told her that it was his family's crest or something of the sort, she honestly didn't believe him when he first told her that due to the fact the arch-elf's had been first made by the ancients a good three hundred and fifty years ago. She never told him her disagreement with his carving but excepted him for his workmanship.

"So what brings you my way to this dingy shop of me and my mate anyway?"

He asked his thick accent clear in his voice. Varies could only compare his accent to earth's Irish accent at least she thought it sounded close to his. She'd probably would have to ask Sierra if it sounded like any kind of earth accent that she had heard of.

"Ah well I just came back from a bit of a trip to pick up a strife weapon and a capthaloge deck for a friend of mine"

the forest green arch-elf rose an eyebrow at her words.

"A friend huh?, would this happen to be a friend of yours I know about?"

He lowered his voice regardless that the store was empty aside for the three other customers that were browsing the axes that were farther towards the back of the store. His forest green eyes narrowed, a few strands of his thin black hair falling into his face from his partially balding head as his left hand came up to stroke at his thick short beard. Varies glanced away a look of guilt and apprehension crossing over her face before she looked back to him a shuddery sigh slipping from her lips and she leaned closer down to the arch-elf as she quickly whispered.

"I found her"

the middle edged arch-elf's look of suspicion melted off of his face and morphed slowly into horrified realization.

"You what"

he hissed lowly grabbing at the daemons black tank top, his eyes gleaming with barely concealed frustration.

"What the bloody wrath were you thinking!"

His words were short and clipped as he glared up into her guilty violet eyes.

"I wasn't what did you expect me to do?! Go and challenge my boss personally!?"

She hissed lowly to him her ears listening to make sure none of the other customers had overheard their conversation.

"Of course not you dense fool!"

Tommy bone replied hissing back in return his needle sharp teeth bared as he spoke, face contorting into one of angered frustration at the others choices.

"It would be a death wish to even try challenging zalgo except..."

he trailed off loosening his one handed hold of Varies's tank top before he tightened it again and spoke calmly struggling to not yell at the daemon.

"How long have you been back in town?"

"What?! What does that have to do wit-!"

"For gods sakes sun child just answer the question!"

He hissed his eyes furrowing in renewed frustration, varies stumbled to answer her close friends question.

"Uh we just got into town today, haven't even been in town for more than an hour at most why? Did something happen while I was gone? Did he-"

the short elf raised a finger to his lips eyes glancing quickly towards where the three other customers were still chatting languidly with one another while they looked at the large assortment of axes the elf had put up earlier that morning.

"Come on"

He said releasing his hold of the daemons shirt before he hopped off of the stool he had been standing on.

"I Uh Alright?"

Varies was quick to walk around to behind the counter following the elf closely as he led her into the room behind the counter that was the elf's and his mates home and workstations. Tommy bone shut the rooms door shut behind them glancing to Varies briefly before yelling out for his mate.

"oi! Elkwood! I need you to please watch the front of the store for me love"

the two began walking deeper into the house Varies awkwardly following closely behind tommy bone when the face of a tall and thin goat like monster peered from behind a open walled room, a pair of large magnifying goggles on his face before he blinked in surprise pulling the goggles up and giving a warm and welcoming smile to Varies.

"Ah! Varies it's great seeing you again dear."

The cream and tan colored monster said as he stood up from his wheeled chair that he had been sitting on carefully removing his goggles off of his head, sighing frustratedly as one of the goggles caught onto one of his two thin and sharp horns that were atop his head, before he finally managed to slip the goggles off of his person. An amused smile on his freckled face as he set it down onto his work table that varies could see more clearly now. As usual the monsters work desk was covered in a good dozen different small gadgets and capthologe cards that were opened up revealing the wires and inner workings of the cards. A mess of complex computer chips and tangles of wires that varies herself could never possibly hope to wrap her mind around how exactly they worked.

"It's good to see you too elkwood sadly I wish I was here on better terms"

she sighed out a bittersweet smile on her face as she watched tommy bone make his way to the kitchenette part of their home, an annoyed look on his face as he tugged open the lower handle of there fridge to grab at a beer bottle that was a third of his size. The daemon had to hold back a grimace at the sight of the drink, guilt filled her as she watched as tommy or rather Tom as he preferred to be called by friends and most customers who came by walk up beside elkwood and nudged at one of his goat legs.

"Go watch the store front love, sun child and I have a lot to talk about."

The goat like monster frowned slightly at his mates words, eyes creasing in concern.

"I-are you sure dear?"

Tom waved a hand giving the taller a reassuring smile.

"Yes I'm bloody sure elkwood, I'll catch you up on it when me and her are done talking. Kids' been gone for a bit anyways need to catch her up on what's been going on with the sector leader anyways."

Elkwood nodded hesitantly before he quickly knelt down and pressed a light peck onto Tommy's forehead before he headed out of the living area and back into the store front. Varies was silent guilt eating at her as she watched the monster walk out, she would have to make sure to make it up later to the two.

"So how much have you told her about the y'know?"

Tommy asked as he made his way to the large comfy well worn armchair that they had for as long as varies had known the duo. It was almost a hysterical sight to see watch the arch-elf heave himself up onto the chair before he leaned back in it looking at her expectingly. She heaved out a sigh and sat down onto the loveseat that was pressed up against the far left wall before she began to relay everything that had happened to her since she had left the planet to the arch-elf.

When the daemon was finished all tommy bone could do as he sipped at his beer was shake his head is disbelief.

"I know I told ya to do what you thought was right on this whole situation but this?"

He said gesturing vaguely towards the daemon and what he thought was close to the direction Sierra was outside. Standing, alone with a Minerva and no idea of the situation she was unknowingly in.

"This is ridiculous even for you Varies."

He sighed shaking his head and rubbing at his forehead in frustration.

"I know Tom I really do, I just"

She sighed frustrated at her actions.

"I couldn't just stand by and watch that bastard kidnap her!"

She raised her voice her hands going through her hair in an attempt to calm herself down. Her chest felt tight as she felt wave after wave of guilt. The short elf gave her a look of rare concern, before he hopped off of the arm chair and made his way to the guilty daemon who watched him with watery eyes before her gently placed a small four fingered clawed hand onto one of her bare knees.

"Kid"

he began his voice gentle and his face full of patient understanding.

"I know what ya mean"

his shoulders sagged slightly as he spoke. He looked so much older to Varies, she took in the sight of how disheveled he looked.

'So much must have happened since I was gone'

she told herself as she spoke up again in a quiet voice.

"I couldn't just watch him possibly hurt her or worse"

she could feel her word catching in her throat as she spoke but she forced herself to go on.

"He would have done the same thing he did to me to- to her."

Her cheeks felt wet with tears that began to spill down her cheeks, faint memories of painful lessons the eldritch creepypasta monster had 'taught' her to make her obedient to him. She barked out a single sharp pain-filled laugh.

"I mean his damn 'lessons' must have not worked anyway, because I'm pretty damn sure that an obedient war general wouldn't go behind the back of their leader."

She spat out looking away she could feel her slight panic attack on the verge of finishing. Tommy heaved himself up onto the loveseat sitting next to her, rubbing a hand up and down her back as she rubbed at her eyes and took in shaky breath after shaky breath before she finally looked up at the arch-elf with guilt filled glowing violet eyes.

"I"

She began her eyes softening as she took in the look of morose understanding on the elf's moss green skinned face. His large bat-like ear wilted slightly, his forest green eyes full of what she could call parental understanding.

"Sorry"

she finished weakly looking down at the tan carpeted floor of their home. She could feel Tom shake his head slightly in understanding a soft sigh slipping from the middle aged arch-elf.

"Kid look I completely get it, that ass absolutely messed you up in this life. I may not completely understand the whole coming back again and again thing I do understand that no one deserves to be treated like he had treated you and your brother."

He gave the much taller a small side hug in an attempt to comfort the daemon.

"The two of you didn't deserve any of the shit you two have gone through in all of your lives."

He said offering a comforting smile to the daemon who looked at him with complete mournful relief. She had talked to the two shopkeepers about the topic several times but it still hurt no matter how much she tried to forget about it. About how her brother had been the unlucky one out of the two, living his life while she had been laying dead in a cavern her old body broken by rocks from a cave in before she had been revived after so long. She shivered at the thought, she still couldn't look at a cave without feeling a sense of unease.

"But you really need ta tell that girl out there the truth about who she is."

He went on still holding onto the daemon to offer what little comfort he could.

"I mean for wrath's sakes does she even know she's not human?"

He asked looking up at the daemon who winced at his words.

"I-i haven't had a chance to figure out how exactly to tell her."

She weakly answered. She felt stupid as she spoke those words, she had all of three days to come up with something and yet she had been more worried with getting to the capital as quick as possible. The elf sighed again at her words before he pulled away slightly.

"you need to tell her when you get back outside."

He told her with no hesitation.

"That is too important of a thing to not let her know"

He continued his face serious.

"I know from experience that'll it be much worse if you don't let her know rather than telling her."

His face softened slightly as he spoke.

"I may not know a lot about this girl you brought, but I can tell you care about this girl."

He looked up at her his voice reassuring.

"And you shouldn't hide important things like this from those you love."

Varies gave the arch-elf a watery smile before she leaned down and gave him a tight hug.

"Thank you"

tom chuckled at the hug, patting at her shoulder before he pulled away.

"Now then while I still have it on my mind I should tell you about what happened while you were gone."

He gave the daemon a mischievous look of joy, a look Varies was very familiar with when speaking with the middle aged elf. She silently rose an eyebrow at him as he chuckled before he spoke up.

"Zalgos gone"

Varies looked at him taking in his words before she gave him a look of disbelief and shock.

"What!?"

She began her eyes wide at the news.

"He was challenged by two demons who came by about three days ago and was beaten by them."

Tom explained his mischievous smile growing as he went on.

"Zalgo isn't a sector leader anymore"

Varies could feel her eyes welling up with joy at the news, a weight she hadn't realized he had been feeling for so long lifted off of her at the news. She was free, she was free from dealing with her previous 'boss'.

"He's gone?"

She asked carefully as if afraid the arch-elf would backtrack with his words and laugh in her face and tell her 'just kidding!' But his face softened slightly at her question before he nodded his head. She could feel her chest tightening at the realization that he was telling the truth. Her former leader was long gone, she could feel herself crying as she took the arch-elf up into a tight hug. The elf letting out a 'oof' at the slight squeeze before she released her hold of him.

"So what are the new leaders names?"

She asked him wiping away her relieved tears with the back of her hands. The elf chuckled at her before she stretched his back, a loud crack coming from it before he answered.

"I believe I heard that there names are something based off of flowers or something. Iris and rose? Rosanna? I think it was Rosanna"

he said looking away while deep in thought not aware of the daemon growing a shade paler at the words.

'Oh fuck'

Sierra was content with watching the strange makeshift festival that seemed to spontaneously appear in the street. Music and costumed people dancing carelessly to the music. Cheering and loud clapping coming from the crowds around them. She couldn't help but tap her foot and bob her head to the beat of the music. Koukai and her standing up poppy and Derek perched on her shoulders as they watched the spectacle. The human didn't know what to think about the odd event that seemed to actually have been planned as everyone had cheered loudly when the large group of dancers had first appeared. Pure white dresses and jumpsuits that were decorated with flowers of all colors along with what Sierra realized was a deer of some kind that had been decorated with vines of flowers and fruits. It's horns painted with gold paint as it leaped and jumped in the street. The deer was surprisingly not on a lead but was instead following the movement of the entire crowd that danced in the cobblestone street. The music was an odd mix of handheld instruments and chanting like singing. It was very melodic to her as she swayed her body gently back and forth as the music seemed to speed up in tempo, her eyes burned brightly at the chills the music was giving her. Adrenaline induced joy was all she could relate to the sensation. She looked and saw a good portion of the crowd dancing in time with the music, their movements oddly fitting for the music even if some were more wonky and less than perfect dance moves. Though a lot of the crowd didn't seem to pay that any mind as they clapped in time with the music. Sierra couldn't help but join in on the clapping, the energy from the crowd was infectious to her. It was thrilling and enjoyable to join in the crowd as the dancers made their way down the street. The music seemingly filling the air with an energetic energy that made the human smile widely and begin to slowly dance with the music. Another beat dropped and her feet slid across the smooth worn down stone sidewalk. Her arms twisted in the air and she jumped and sang along with the melodic chanting. It was something that felt so familiar to her even though she knew she hadn't dealt with something like this in all of her life. Images flashed across her eyes as her body danced on drawing some cheers from those around her who clapped louder in time with the music. Images of a large crowd in a city like that of the capital filled her mind, thrumming music that was chanted and sang to filling her ears as she poured her entire being into her dancing. The music leading her all the while, the tambourine helping her keep pace as she leaped off of the ground and seemingly flew through the air before she landed back onto the ground. She could hear cheering for a name she hardly recognized as she danced on. Her eyes opened to watch as dancers dressed in white and gold accented dresses and black pants and white loose dress shirts danced about wildly. When the music finally ended she landed again onto the ground her breathing harsh as she tried to catch her breath, loud cheering boomed around her as she looked around at the crowd several of those who were standing around her whooped in congratulations at her dancing. Several more cheered for the others who had danced in the crowd, the dancers were still in sight though much farther down the street the tall dark furred deer with the odd pearly white hooves following closely behind them.

"That was the best kind of dancing that I've ever seen from anyone at a flash festival!"

A tall rabbit like bug creature said standing beside her. His almond shaped honey golden eyes creasing up in joy as he complimented her. Sierra breathlessly chuckled, still trying to catch her breath after the rush of energy that had filled her body at the music.

"That's what that's called?"

She asked the stranger humorously. The event certainly felt like it had been there only for a flash of a moment in time. The rabbit insectoid man laughed at her words, his four arms crossing over his flat smooth chest. His rabbit like ears twitching in the air, the wing-like material at the tips of them moved slightly in the air before he smiled at her offering her a hand. She smiled taking a hold of his four fingered hand, the 'skin' on it smooth and hard like porcelain or hard plastic and shaking it.

"You must be new here?"

He went on his honey golden eyes warm as he spoke. She couldn't help but return his smile with one of her own, his warm and welcoming words comforting to her.

"Uh- Yeah, is it that obvious?"

She asked chuckling at him realasing her hold of his hand. Still marveling at how he looked, his solid honey golden eyes, how a circle of a darker shade was in the middle watching her back as well. His segmented arms and legs, the large ant-like 'tail' at end seemed to be full of a light blue and pink liquid that she couldn't take her eyes off of. She blinked realizing she had been staring at him for a bit too long.

"oh uh, sorry about staring I've just never seen something like your species before"

She stammered to him. Her face flushing in humiliation at might have been the rudest thing she's done since coming to the city. He raised two of his arms in reassurance.

"Hey it's alright, I get it all the time so really it's no harm!"

He smiled warmly.

" your new and so of course you'd be curious"

Sierra nodded her head thankful that the male rabbit ant didn't take it the wrong way.

"I'm a raspuin by the way."

"What?"

She looked up at him confused at his sentence. He looked amused at her confusion for a moment his honey golden eyes closing shut as he chuckled slightly before he spoke again.

"My species, that's what we're called."

Sierra blinked before her face darkened even more in embarrassment.

"Oh, uh shit I knew that."

She laughed awkwardly praying silently to her messiahs that she would stop embarrassing herself.

'Varies how long does it take to get a fucking staff?!'

She screamed to herself internally. The raspuin laughed again, a strange chittering laugh made Sierra think of ants and beetles scuttling around on a dirt path. Her mind seemed to follow this line of thought and began to think about ants and beetles that were big enough to ride with intricately decorated saddles on their backs as people would ride the giant insects into battles. She snapped out of her thoughts as she realized that he was looking at her curiously.

"huh?"

He chuckled at her response before he repeated himself.

"I asked you what species you are, sorry if that's rude of me to ask but I noticed your Minerva and couldn't help but be curious."

Sierra chuckled at him embarrassed that she had let her mind wonder off like that.

"Uh, I'm a human."

He creased his eyes at her in confusion at her answer.

"That can't be right, humans aren't able to bond with Minerva."

She stiffened at his words, a chill going down her back confusion filling her at the implication.

"What do you mean?"

She asked hoping the quiet fear was unnoticeable in her voice. He went on seemingly not showing he heard her fear.

"well the ancients made Minerva very strong so to help prevent them from bonding with those who might use them for evil they only chose a few species that Minerva's were compatible with when bonding."

His words made her feel a pit form in her stomach, her barely regarded concerns about her new abilities that she had gained resurfaced to the forefront of her mind.

"Oh you don't say"

she said feeling koukai nuzzle gently at her left leg, a worried churr coming from him.

"Yeah humans were one of the species that can't bond with them"

he scratched at the back of his bare head his tan shell-like skin clicking like how Sierra always imagined bone sounding. She looked away nodding politely at his words.

"at least I'm kinda sure that they are, i'd have to look it up to be honest."

He continued, Sierra released a sigh of relief at his words. Her body going slack as she hoped it wasn't what she thought his words were entailing.

'I'll have to ask Varies whenever she gets back from the store'

she thought glancing to the store's door, frowning slightly at the lack of the other leaving the building.

"Oh! I forgot to ask you you're name!"

She realized as she looked back at the raspuin who seemed to be thinking deeply about something. He looked up abruptly at her words

"oh!, hehe sorry name's telmic!"

He said offering one of his lower hands to her. She smiled softly at him before she took it and shook his hand again.

"pleased to meet you telmic, name's Sierra."

She smiled warmly at him happy to be making a friend of a sort even if it was for a short bit. She and him talked about whatever they could while the human struggled to not think about the doubt that was curling itself around her mind like a thick fog as she waited for Varies to come back out of the store.

Varies smiled at the elkwood and tom as she hefted the large wooden staff and think stack of indigo colored cards.

"I'm glad to hear from you again dear."

Elkwood said hugging the daemon in a tight hug that left varies feeling warm and part of the two's family. She returned the hug as best she could with one arm while she held her items in her other.

"Same to you elkwood, I wish I could have stayed longer to catch up more but that'll have to wait till another day."

She said pulling away from his hug and gave a sad smile to the freckled goat monster. Tom waved a hand at her words.

"yeah yeah, ya best get going sun child before your gal starts wondering why the hell your taking so long."

He joked giving her a jovial smile full of needle sharp teeth. She laughed and gently smacked at the arch-elf's arm before she made her way out of the store waving goodbye to them as she opened the door and went outside. Loud music playing outside caught her notice as the store's door closed behind her.

'A flash festival?'

She wondered curiously at the sight of the near magical event that was happening out in the streets.

'Tom did tell me that iris and Rosanna did become the new sector leaders so I'm not to surprised at this celebration but?'

She looked around, trying to spot sierras dirty blonde covered head out among the crowd. She quickly found the human, surrounded by a good dozen or two people who were clapping in time with the music along with cheering wildly for her. Varies could only catch glimpses of poppy and Derek flapping above the girl in the center of the crowd as Sierra leaped high into the air her eyes closed into a look of bliss. Varies froze watching as time practically slowed down as Sierra opened her eyes as she began to land and meet the daemons violet eyes with her own brightly glowing blue green eyes. The daemon felt her mouth fall open in awe at the sight of Sierra in the air her sun kissed hair swept behind her in a long wild wisp of burnt honey gold, the flower in her hair giving her a fae and wildchild look almost. When the human finally landed Varies snapped out of the spell that she had found herself in before she carefully pushed her way towards the center of the crowd. Gently pushing past trolls, Irkens, elves, and repsies as the music built in tempo. The beat getting faster and faster as time went on, she could see Sierra barely through the crowd. The human was keeping in time with the music her eyes still closed in that state of blissful euphoria as she danced barefoot on the stone sidewalk. Koukai was siting nearby his tail wagging with the beat of the music his eyes shut as his head lightly bobbed with the music. Varies could only sigh in relief when she finally reached the center, holding back a grunt of pain when a tall blonde hair elf had accidentally stepped onto her left foot with their heeled foot. She sent the quickly retreating elf a look of annoyance before she made her way to Sierra who was finishing her dance as the music drifted away the farther down the flash festival group made their way down the street till they turned a corner and went farther into the outer edges of the city. Sierra finished her dance breathing heavily as she finally opened her eyes, the out of focus look in them concerned her as she made her way to the human.

"Sierra we need to go."

She said quickly gently taking a hold of her right hand. Sierra blinking up at her confusion crossing her face before a tired warm smile crossed her lips and she gave a The other a quick nod before allowing the daemon to lead her out of the crowd. Koukai, poppy and Derek following close after.

"Bye telmic! It was nice getting to meet you!"

Sierra called over her shoulder waving at the raspuin who stood in the crowd his eyes wide at the sight of the general of the sector appearing to spirt away the human. A beat passed through the crowd before someone in the crowd asked gingerly.

"was that general varies?"

Another beat passed before the sounds of agreement went through the crowd before they began to realize that a seemingly random human knew the general.

"Wait who was that girl?!"

People in the crowd seemed to asked one another in realization.

"Whew that was amazing varies!"

Sierra giggled breathlessly as the daemon led her away from the large crowd that had surrounded her when she had begun her dancing. Varies still clutched onto the staff and thick stack of capthaloge cards staring forward in contemplation at how exactly she could go about telling Sierra about the topic that was swirling around in her mind as she led Sierra farther and farther away from the storefront she had been dancing in front of. She couldn't help but tighten her hold of the other slightly at the memory, the look in the others glowing green blue eyes as she had made contact with her when she had leaped. The moves she had used when she was dancing, the way she had danced exactly like...

"Uh varies your kinda holding my hand a bit tightly there hun"

sierra's voice broke her out of her thoughts. She looked back to the human who looked up at her face and seemed to quickly grow concerned.

"Hey what's wrong?, look if your worried about me dancing it's alright I heard that zalgo's not the sector leader anymore I mean that's good right?"

She asked her face creasing in concern at the others look of guilt that riddled her face. She looked almost in pain as she looked at her.

"Varies what's wrong?"

She asked gingerly her words soft and full of worry as she spoke.

"I-Uh"

Varies stammered the pit in her stomach growing heavier the longer she looked at the human before her.

'Not a human'

she corrected herself, guilt eating more at her as she silently looked away and lead Sierra into an alleyway that wasn't to far away. Sierra still looking at her with wide concerned filled eyes that seemed to silently beg for the other to spill everything to her. Varies wanted to tear her hair out at the sheer amount of guilt that was eating her out from the inside. When the two finally stopped in the middle of the alleyway varies looked to the other who seemed to look around the alleyway a look of confusion, concern and a look Varies had yet to see fully in the other, Fear. She sighed frustratedly before she released her hold of the others wrist. Sierra looked up at her at that, blue green eyes wide and confused, concerned and fearful all at once. She had to tell her

'I may not know a lot about this girl you brought here but I do know that anyone deserves to know about something that important as soon as possible.'

Tom's words rang out in her head as she opened her mouth to speak before she closed it and looked away. She was hesitating, God's she didn't want to do this.

'But you have to'

Her mind hissed to her in frustration at her hesitation.

"Varies?, what's wrong? Did I do somethin-"

"your not human"

Sierra stiffened up at her abrupt words.

"What?"

Varies looked down at the other her eyes wide and confused, before she swallowed hard and spoke up again.

"Your not human Sierra, at least not fully i think."

She took in the look of absolute disbelief on the others face before it twisted into a look of forced laughter. The laugh that the dirty blonde gave her was almost painful sounding her eyes looking away as if afraid.

"Good joke Varies, really tried to pull the wool over my eyes with that one that's for sure."

Sierra went on her eyes silently begging the other, pleading almost to not go on. The daemon felt her body's age in that moment as she sagged slightly before she silently gave the other a look. Sierra seemed to go silent at the look the other gave her.

"Your serious?"

She spoke as if she couldn't believe what the other was implying.

"You've never been completely human sierra, as far as I know there has never been a successful human host that lived beyond three years with two demons."

They daemon gave a bittersweet chuckle her left hand going through her hair.

"Let alone one!, any normal human would have died painfully if that happened."

Varies hated herself for every word she spoke.

"But But iris and Rosanna told me"

"THEY LIED TO YOU!"

Varies shouted watching as Sierra's eyes widened and fear filled her eyes, the other visibly flinching away from her. Guilt ate her insides again.

"I shit, Sierra I didn't mean to"

She began reaching a hand out to the other who flinched at the movement her eyes closing shut as if she was getting ready to be hit. Varies pulled her hand away and brought it to her chest looking down at it before looking back at the other. Sierra had opened her eyes back up and was keeping them wide open, her eyes the widest the daemon had ever seen them. Her mouth was drawn into a small frown.

"It's fine"

Varies couldn't help but feel even more guilty at how deadpanned the other sounded. Her eyes gaining a listless glaze over them.

"everyone gets mad, it's normal"

Sierra said before she released a harsh bark of a laugh, her eyes growing hard as she spoke.

"Normal, What would I fucking know about being normal."

She hissed the last word her eyes narrowing small beads of unshed tears welling up in her eyes as she looked up at the daemon. Varies opened her mouth to speak but looking away before she slowly handed the other the deck of capthaloge cards and the wooded staff she had gotten for her.

"L-let's just focus on getting your deck and strife set up for now."

She began slowly watching as Sierra took the items from her silently.

"Fine"

the single word was spat out as if her words were bitter to the taste. Varies couldn't help but regret saying anything to the other.

Sierra was silent and cold as Varies taught her how to use the technology. She got a good idea of how to use the tech fairly quickly much to her annoyance.

'She yelled at you'

the small dripping with hot black tar voice hissed to her. She frowned at its words, it was just a slight build up of frustration that caused the other to shout is all. At least that's what she was telling herself as she managed to successfully capthaloge her small blue purse and looked upward like Varies had directed her to to scan for her virtual cards. She didn't smile when she saw the bag in a card, even as she selected the card with her eyes and caught her small bag as it popped out of the card.

'You have never been normal'

the voice hissed out again, Sierra tried to ignore the feeling of her throat tightening at the sheer amount of emotion that filled her.

'Freak'

it hissed again, she glanced at the small pile of bags Varies had made of her things that the other had handed back to her. Her suitcases, her bags of stuff that she had gotten from Walmart, her art supplies, everything that she had brought with her for the camping trip was there. She was silent and numb as she capthaloged bag after bag barely paying attention to what Varies was saying.

'Monster'

she held back a grimace at the word, her throat felt like someone was squeezing it tightly from inside of her body.

'Disgusting, broken, useless garbage.'

It hissed again, each word it spoke landing its mark on her heart and mind.

'She'll get tired of you and toss you aside for a better much happier slut'

it hissed making her glance quickly to varies. The look of the daemons face was one of immense guilt, she almost looked like she was in physical pain as she directed Sierra how to use her strife weapon.

'That's not true.'

She began finally beginning to argue against the vile venom and tar riddled voice of self-hate that rang out in the back of her mind.

'She just didn't know how to tell me that I'm not human.'

She began again as she smacked at one of the stacked soda cans that the daemon had quickly set up for her.

'She didn't mean to yell at me!'

Her mind was starting to roll downhill quickly, her breaths coming in quicker and quicker even as she smacked at the soda cans harder and harder as she hit them away. Getting a kind of thrill of knowing they were getting banged up and crushed in the process. Broken, bent out of shape, twisted, wrong just like her. She could barely feel her tears trailing down her face as she began to slam one end of her staff down against a soda can over and over. Her eyes empty as she took in the sight of the twisted and ripped metal soda can. She couldn't help but almost think it looked like someone who was lying in a crumpled heap on the stone sidewalk.

'She wasn't trying to make me upset!, she just didn't want me to get upset like this later!'

She was struggling to rationalize the other's actions.

'Why would she even bother with that? We don't deserve that, we don't deserve anything'

the voice hissed back.

'You're just a broken little toy, your own parents didn't want you. You didn't have any friends until you became someone that your not.'

It laughed after it spoke, tears began anew as she struggled to ignore the pain of the words alone.

'How pathetic'

it hissed, it's words bitter to the taste and unendingly cruel.

'poor little Sierra just wanted to make friends but instead scared them off. Face it your a freak and not even your own related family wanted to deal with you.'

It hissed out smugly. Sierra couldn't feel her fingers as she let go of the staff it falling down and she slumped onto her knees, the mental anguish she was going through stung and hurt deeply. She felt guilty and angry but she felt so helpless dealing with all of these thoughts going through her mind as she weakly grabbed her staff and returned it to her strife card. She smiled weakly when she felt koukai nuzzle her left cheek licking at her face. She couldn't help but chuckle at the Minerva hugging his neck with one arm and burying her face in his neck fur. The dark brown fur comforting to the touch and helped her calm down. She petted at his back taking in the feeling of his feathers and wings before she finally pulled away and looked up to Varies who returned her stare.

"Sierra I"

"it's fine"

she said giving the other a small smile.

"I forgive you."

She could only offer the daemon a warm smile as she got back onto her feet. Varies hesitated before she pulled the other into a tight hug.

"I'm sorry I upset you like that."

She began her voice tight with emotion.

"Hey it's fine really"

"but I made you cry"

Sierra winced at the mention of her little fit of crying she did.

"That wasn't because of you, that was more or less because of my depression beating me up again."

She admitted looking away embarrassed at her emotional outburst. Varies gave her a look of mournful understanding.

"I understand what you mean I just, I've never seen you like that before. Are you sure you're alright?"

Sierra pulled away from her, she was quiet and looked uncomfortable as she spoke up again.

"I-I don't think I am, I mean I'm probably gonna want some time to myself pretty soon so I can at least get a chance to kinda think about what's been happening Varies."

She sighed her eyes looking away hugging herself as she looked forward to having a moment of privacy to herself, Messiahs knew she needed it.

"Uh right Sam told me about that, Uh again I'm really sorry I sprung that news on you like that"

Varies said scratching at the back of her neck guilt eating at her as the awkward atmosphere surrounded the two.

"Again"

she finished lamely looking at the other. Sierra shrugged.

"eh, it's alright. I mean I guess I should have expected it."

She gave a small awkward smile to the daemon.

"I mean I did have two demons and a fallen angel living inside of me for all my life, and one of them I didn't even know was there!"

Varies chuckled at the others remark. Sierra returned it with a soft chuckle of her own before sighing softly a melancholic ring to it.

"I guess I should have realized sooner or later that humans aren't exactly known best for being able to fly without an airplane or jumping off of a cliff."

Varies winced at her words slightly.

"yeahhh that was a bit obvious, honestly I'm shocked you didn't ask me about that when you did start flying."

Sierra looked away at her words.

"I actually was going to, but then I got a bit"

"you got nervous?"

Sierra shrugged nodding her head hesitantly before nodding her head more confidently.

"Yeah, pretty much."

The two were silent before Sierra broke it again.

"So what am I exactly if I'm not human?"

Looking at varies as the two began to take in the damage of the soda cans Sierra had managed to completely destroy in her slight bit of rage.

"Well that's the thing"

varies rubbed at the back of her neck again, violet eyes looking away as she spoke.

"I'm not a hundred percent sure that you don't have at least a little bit of human in you."

Sierra nodded at her answer before she repeated her question.

"Okay I get that but, what the fuck am I?"

She gave the daemon a blank look.

"Oh!"

Varies began her face lighting up slightly in realization of the question.

"You might be a magi?, though I might want to get a friend of mine to do a DNA test on you to make sure."

Sierra nodded at her answer again.

"So what the fuck exactly is a magi?"

She asked looking at the daemon quizzically. Varies winced at the swear Sierra used but ignored it.

"let's just say they descended from the humans here on connection thanks to a large event and leave it at that for now."

Sierra opened her mouth to speak again but varies beat her to it.

"I'll tell you more about them but we got more important things to take care off first."

Sierra scrunched her face at the other as they raised a hand to stop the other from asking anymore questions.

"Besides"

she continued, giving the other a weak smile.

"I don't think you should be listening about that mess when you're as overwhelmed as you are don't you think?"

Sierra paused at this, the daemon did have a point to that. She sighed looking off to the side where koukai had sat himself down next to her. His watery brown eyes watching her carefully, as if she might break in that moment. She frowned slightly at the sight, he looked concerned for her. Even poppy and Derek who were perched onto varies's horns seemed to look concerned for her mentality.

"Alright no more questions about this topic until I'm more settled in."

She gave in, varies smiling warmly at her response.

"That's good to hear now how about we get out of this alley?"

Sierra could only chuckle at her a bittersweet smile gracing her lips as the two walked together their hands hardly reaching for each other.


	16. Chapter 15: a sense of betrayal and a bit of a mental breakdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> varies and sierra make their way to a store that some of varies's friends work at before sierra finds out about iris and rosanna being the new sector leaders after some hurt feelings sierra and koukai make their way to the capital building to meet back up with the two but things don't go exactly to plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this one i actually worked on fairly quickly, and knowing me i'll work on it again at a later date.

Sierra and varies made their way down the the sidewalk, Sierra occasionally stopping to watch with awe at the many 'flash festivals' that passed down the road. The two hadn't talked much since they left the alleyway where Varies had revealed to Sierra the truth about her species, or rather told her what she was more likely a hybrid than anything else.

'It could be worse I guess'

she told herself as she hesitantly reaches for Varies's hand and smiled softly when the daemon returned the small bit of affection. Varies had told her that they were headed to a clothing store where she knew the owners.

"It's a store you can come in this time."

She had told the hybrid, something Sierra had raised an eyebrow at when it was mentioned.

"You aren't considered a citizen of connection yet so to prevent any issues your not allowed to enter any stores that sell weapons, alcohol, and recreational drugs."

Sierra had given her a blank look before she had responded in a deadpanned voice.

"so basically I can't go into the fun stores unless I have proof that I'm of age to partake of 'the goods'?"

Varies had chuckled at her question, and had snorted when the dirty blonde had made quotations marks with her fingers.

"Essentially yes, connection learned early on that we couldn't just allow anyone to enter any store without at least showing some form of identification."

The violet eyed daemon ran a hand through her mess of wavy black hair as she looked a shade paler as she went on.

"Turns out some teenagers used this as a loop hole to get really high and drunk"

she looked to the dirty blonde who gave her a unimpressed look.

"Who'da thought?"

She said sheepishly smiling awkwardly her large tusk-like fangs revealing themselves. Sierra shook her head and chuckled at her.

"I mean what else would you expect teenagers to do?"

She asked honestly curious as to where this topic would go. Varies shrugged looking away abashedly, embarrassed at the topic and how irresponsible it must have made the planet seem. She opened her mouth to speak but went still when she overheard a conversation from two who were walking past them.

"So what do you think about the two new sector leaders?"

She couldn't help but look at Sierra, watching the hybrid for a reaction to the passing conversation.

"Not much really, it's still a bit too early to get a good read on them yet. But I guess for two demons they seem alright for sector leaders so far."

Varies looked away quickly when Sierra noticed her staring. The next thing the duo said made both of them stiffen up.

"I don't think their both demons though dude, I heard that the one named rose? Rosita? Shit I think her name is ro something. I heard she's a fallen angel."

Sierra looked up to Varies watching the daemon go wide eyed at the conversation.

"Uh I can explain."

She began slowly to the hybrid who gave her a tired yet patient smile that barely reached her eyes.

"Guess that takes care of the looking for them bit huh?"

Sierra joked looking exhausted as she spoke. She rubbed at her face before she spoke up again.

"where would they be Varies?"

The daemon looked away her face twisting into one of hesitation.

"I think maybe we should take it easy with everything that's been going on today Sierra."

She began trying to soothe the other who frowned at her words a look of realization dawned on her face.

"Wait, you knew they were the new sector leaders?"

She stopped walking looking up at the daemon in disbelief. Varies looked back at her surprised before she struggled to come up with an explanation that would calm the other down.

"Sierra I was going to tell you-"

"I can't fucking believe you!"

Sierra shouted her eyes hardening as she shouted. Several people around them stiffened up and looked towards them at her shouting.

"Sierra dear calm down I just didn't want to drop anymore on you until you had a chance to relax a little bit."

Varies explained weakly her violet eyes glowing brightly as her eyes grew fearful for the other's reaction.

"So you decide to tell me about how I'm not human first before I find out through a fucking passing conversation about how two of the closest people in my life are now the new leaders of your sector!"

She stuttered in her rant at the daemon, a look of frustration on her face as she grew more and more frustrated at the others less than stellar choices.

Varies noticed the group that had begun to form around, whispering quietly to one another looks of concern and confusion on their faces. It wasn't odd for a yelling match to occasionally happen outside but.

'They've never seen someone yell at the general of their very own sector before.'

She thought bitterly as she raised her hands up to try calming the other down.

"Sierra please your making a scene."

Varies realized as she said those words that she messed up when Sierra's face dropped before becoming even more frustrated.

"Are you kidding me!"

Sierra shouted loud enough that it made the daemon flinch. She regretted her words and how she had said them, especially when the other was so frustrated with her at the moment.

"Your more worried about how everyone is hearing me rather than how I'm upset with the fact that you didn't tell me iris and Rosanna were here."

Sierra hissed, lowering her voice despite acting like she didn't care about drawing any attention to her or not.

"Look I know I fucked up on that part, I really do please understand that I was thinking about what was more important to tell you at the time."

Varies said quickly her eyes creased in concern as the dirty blonde seemed to be taken aback by her words. What was going on in the other's mind?, Varies couldn't help but feel guilty when Sierra seemed close to breaking before she straightened herself up cleared her throat and calmly spoke, the underlying tone of frustration still in her calm words.

"I understand, but I'm going to go see iris and Rosanna right now. I need some time to myself for a minute."

Varies stiffened at her words.

"Sierr-"

"I'm not angry at you"

Sierra gave a sigh petting koukai who stood beside her and began to slowly grow to the size of a horse, the dirty blonde looking at varies all the while.

"I'm just a bit frustrated with you at the moment, I just need"

Sierra stopped her eyes filling with a pain that varies had never seen before on the normally happy and childish dirty blonde.

"I need some time to organize my thoughts right now."

Sierra finished before she heaved herself onto koukai's back clutching onto his neck fur before she got comfortable on the Minerva's back. Clicking to poppy and Derek who chirped back at her from where they were perched on varies's shoulders before she gave a weak smile.

"Keep an eye on her please"

her face grew soft before she became serious again.

"I'll be back Varies wait for me please or meet up with me wherever poppy and Derek lead you I guess."

Then without another word koukai began to run deeper into the city, leaping carefully above crowd after crowd until the Minerva was out of sight. Varies could only silently watch, her heart guilt ridden as several members of the crowd began to gingerly ask if she was alright, about what had happened, about who Sierra was. Varies lamely answered a few their questions before she excused herself and quickly made her way towards the store she had been planning on going to with Sierra, her heart heavy and full of guilt at the look of pain Sierra had given her.

Sierra could only press her face against the back of koukai's neck scruff as she began to realize what she had done.

'Oh fuck oh fucking shit, I fucked up'

she told herself clutching tighter onto the Minerva as he made his way towards the large capital building that varies had pointed out to her when they first entered the city. Sierra couldn't help but look at the building longingly, her thoughts immediately going to iris and Rosanna.

'I fucked up'

she thought to herself again. Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment and humiliation at her reaction to the daemon.

'Varies didn't need me acting like that'

she thought as she sat upright on koukai's back, guilt beginning to eat at her for shouting at the other.

'Messiahs that was a dick move for me to make honestly'

she thought screaming internally at the idea that varies might want to break up after what happened.

'God damnit'

she swore to herself as koukai turned to go down an alleyway huffing up at the regretful hybrid.

'Are you and your mate okay?'

Sierra shouted in surprise at the sound of koukai's voice ringing out in her head, almost letting go of her hold on the Minerva.

"Holy shit!"

She shouted as she tightened her hold slightly.

"Damnit koukai don't scare me like that!, I'm not used to this whole uh?"

She paused struggling to remember what the word varies had used to describe it had been.

'Our bond?'

The Minerva offered fluttering his wings slightly as they made their way out of the alleyway.

"Uh, yeah."

She started looking off to the side awkwardly taking in the sight of the several people who looked up at her and koukai in awe as they walked quickly past them.

'So what exactly does this whole 'bond' mean? I still don't quite get this really?'

She asked in her mind hoping koukai could hear her thoughts like she had a feeling he could.

'Our bond is still very new and not quite as strong as some can be, but ours is still stronger than most typically are in the beginning so we got that going.'

She sighed in relief when he answered.

'Huh I wonder why?, I mean we've literally only known each other for barely a day so why?'

Koukai seemed to pause at her question before he answered.

'Well it is partly due to your species, and how you seemed to not fear me as much as most possible bond partners have been of me in the past.'

Sierra made a confused sound at his words.

'Bond partners? I guess this means I'm not the first person you've made a bond with then?'

The Minerva trotted quickly down another alleyway as they grew closer to the capital building.

'Not exactly, you are my first forged bond but my species tend to have several small ones over our younger years but we choose one person to be our partner when we're fully grown.'

He seemed to pause in his explanation his head turning enough so that he could look up at her.

'Many don't get the chance to form a permanent bond, and even fewer get the chance to even find one their willing to form a bond with. It's considered a thing to be proud of when one is found.'

He slowed down slightly before he stretched out Sierra scrabbling to hold onto his back before he straightened out again and began walking again.

"Jesus fuck"

Sierra swore under her breath, getting a low rumble of what might have been koukai's laughter as she righted herself back onto his back.

"I'm definitely asking Varies when we meet back up if we can get you a saddle you ass."

She told the Minerva as he continued to emit the low chortling rumble deep in his throat. She couldn't help smiling at the sound, she could feel that he was happy in a strange way. It was as if she could somewhat read his mind just enough to get the basics of what he was feeling.

'Besides how are you even able to talk that fluently if your an animal dude?'

She asked to him through what she considered was their bond. He snorted up at her before he answered.

'that is one of the things we share in our bond, along with memories, emotions, and knowledge along with many other things as well but my kind share a link with those we are bonded to'

Sierra nodded in understanding at his words.

'So you can talk this fluently because of me?'

'Precisely.'

She made a face at his choice of words.

'And you decided to talk to me like a college professor?'

The Minerva gave another one of his low rumbling chortles that Sierra could feel beneath the tips of her fingertips. She smiled at the sound and the sensation of his laughter, it felt right to talk to the Minerva like this.

'Yes'

Sierra chuckled at his answer.

'really?'

'No, honestly I just thought it made me sound smarter.'

Sierra burst out into laughter at his response burying her face into his fur at the snark he had in his reply. Hardly any or the people around them payed them any mind when she had laughed abruptly like she had.

"Sweet mirth, your a funny guy I'll give you that koukai."

She told him still chuckling and scratching at the back of his head, her fingers going underneath the small feathers that covered his head. She could feel a sigh leave him as she scratched gently at his head.

'it must be awesome to be able to do stuff like this.'

She thought not caring if koukai heard her or not.

'I mean being able to change your size and make bonds like this.'

she elaborated to the Minerva who simply huffed at her. The two were silent as they rode deeper and deeper into the city, Sierra taking in the details of the city as much as she could. How everyone hardly seemed to be tired or angry with one another, how happy and relaxed they looked.

'Is earth like this?'

Koukai asked her breaking the silence between them. Sierra sighed softly at the question before she made a small bittersweet frown.

'Sort've, a lot of people there seemed either tired, angry, sad or a little bit happy.'

She paused thinking about earth, and many of the people she met and interacted with alone at her job. So many seemed tired of how crummy things seemed to get day after day. The thought alone about her cashier job back on earth made her miss the planet in a way that reminded her of when she first moved out of her parents house. An aching homesickness that filled her with guilt.

"Huh never thought that I would miss it, it sucked sometimes but it was home."

She said quietly as she looked down at her hands clutching onto koukai's fur. The sight felt familiar and right, like it was something she had done before. A flash of a memory crossed her mind. A pair of pale white hands that were dirtied with grime and grass stains clutched onto worn leather reigns as she rode through a wooded area. A laugh bubbling up from her throat in a voice that she didn't recognize but felt like she could have heard it somewhere before. There was the sensation of a pair of arms looped around her waist as she urged the animal underneath her to go faster.

'S—eni—ty!, slow down! We're going too fast!'

A girl's voice cried out behind her a laugh interrupting their words as they went faster weaving and jumping over tree roots and rocks.

'Come on dear sister! When will we ever get the chance to have fun like this again?'

The voice that came from her spoke up, they sounded like a child that was mischievous and was doing something they knew would get them in trouble.

'Mother will have us grounded!'

The others voice rang out again before the two screamed loudly as the animal that they were riding leaped over a small stream, the screaming quickly dissolving into relieved laughter and whoops of excitement.

'See what did I tell you entr-?'

Sierra blinked back to reality when she realized that koukai had bumped his head back at her to get her attention.

"Ah! Uh sorry my mind went away from me for a bit there."

She apologized when she became aware of where she was again.

'I asked you if you were still upset at your mate?'

Koukai's voice rang out in her mind, she blinked still trying to clear her mind of what she had seen and heard.

"Uh, no."

She began smoothing back some of her hair that had gotten blown into her face by the breeze that blew by,careful of the lux arbor flower that was still in her hair. it's thin roots weaved into her hair. She felt just a bit disoriented from what had just happened but she didn't want to make the Minerva worry about her. she struggled to remember what he had asked her.

"Sorry koukai What was the question again?"

She asked sheepishly as she finally began to feel herself come back more and more. The Minerva huffed at her before he repeated his question.

'I asked you if you are still angry at your mate!'

Sierra blinked in confusion at his question before she realized who he was referring to.

"Oh!"

She began aloud before she answered his question in her head.

'You mean varies?'

He gave a quick nod of his head as he snorted at her.

'No I'm not mad at her!, I'm just a bit'

she struggled to think of the word for how she was feeling towards the daemon.

'Frustrated with her at the moment.'

She finished lamely looking around taking in the sight of many of the people who were walking on the side walk who stopped and looked up at her and koukai with wide eyes that she gave a small wave and smile as they passed by.

'And mate? Really dude? Me and her aren't that close yet'

she chided the Minerva who only snorted at her again.

'Then what are you if you are not mates?'

The Minerva asked curiously. Sierra opened her mouth to answer before she closed it actually thinking about the question. Her eyebrows furrowing together as she thought about the daemon more. What were they? Were they dating? Were they even girlfriends or something close to that? Or

'are we even in a relationship?'

She asked herself looking back down at her hand holding onto koukai again. She sighed before she answered him.

'i think me and Varies need to talk about that actually when we meet back up with each other.'

She finished the thought as loud cheering got her and koukai's attention. She snapped her head up to take in the sight of a crowd that looked almost a block away from where they stood. It seemed they had made it close enough to the capital building and were close enough to the stage that Sierra had heard was set up in front of the building from what telmic had told her earlier when they had been talking. Apparently it was a welcoming ceremony for the new sector leaders. An event he had told her that would be broadcasted live all over connection for everyone to see and watch. It was a tradition for people to watch it and make their assumptions and thoughts about the new sectors leaders and what kind of image they would bring to the table for their sector. Sierra could only watch starry eyed as she slid off of koukai quickly the Minerva shrinking to the size of a large dog beside her before she ran to the crowd, her heart weightless as she ran. She glanced up to the front of the crowd barely seeing the stage that was set up along with the large screen behind it that showed the stage from the view of a camera that was probably facing it from somewhere hidden. She smiled widely with relief when she saw iris make her way onto the stage.

She pushed and moved quickly through the crowd, quickly apologizing and excusing herself to get closer and closer to the stage. Koukai following her closely the sight of him alone seemed to make people back away from her as they realized the two were together.

"Is that a Minerva!?"

"Why the hell is a Minerva here?"

"Should we call someone?"

Sierra ignored some of the things some of the crowd was saying around her as she stared straight ahead her, eyes fixed on the sight of iris. She could just tell from the way the tall thin woman walked and moved that it was iris. The confident strides she took, the look of smug mischievousness that shone in her vibrant purple irises that were thinly lined with a circle of dark red that seemed to make her irises pop out more than it should have. Her dark brown wavy hair barely made it to her shoulders. Sierra couldn't help but look at how iris looked, heat rising to her cheeks as she watched the other stride across the stage, her image showing up on the giant screen behind her. Her caramel brown skin reminded Sierra of the few cold nights during winter that she would drink a warm cup of coffee that had been mixed with creamer and sugar that most people would have mocked for weakening the taste of coffee. Iris looked as mischievous and confident as she always had shown herself to be. When the demon made her way to the middle of the stage she grabbed ahold of the microphone that had been sitting on its stand and tapped at it a few times. When the sound of her tapping came through the large speakers that were set up on the ground on either side of the stage, did iris finally speak into it. Sierra watched in awe as iris spoke, the same voice that she had been associating with the demon came through the speakers.

"Good afternoon citizens of sector 7!"

The crowd cheered loudly at her words. Iris laughed away from the mic before she spoke back into it.

"and everyone else who's watching the live broadcast all over connection as we speak!"

Another cheer from the crowd, Sierra flinched and covered her ears from the sheer volume even as she and koukai quickened their pace to get closer to the stage. She had to get Iris's attention, she needed to get the others attention. She told herself over and over as she stumbled over smaller citizens and around towering giants that seemed to be clapping quietly instead of cheering.

"You May all be wondering where my fellow sector leader is at the moment, don't worry she's doing alright!"

The crowd quieted down at her words as she went on.

"My partner and fellow sector leader is still recovering from her injuries that she had sustained from our challenge with zalgo for his title of sector leader but don't worry about that none! She'll be back on her feet in no time and she'll make her own warm welcome to everyone on connection when she's back!"

The crowd cheered and whooped loudly at the news, many shouting out words of encouragement that could be picked up by the many small cameras that were carried around by the many small bird sized drones that were recording the whole event and broadcasting it live all over the planet. Iris sent a wide mischievous smile to the camera closest to her, winking as she did so.

"Any-who"

she began again, casually her face warm and confident as she spoke beginning to walk across the front of the stage as she spoke.

"Before I list off what me and my partner Rosanna hope to accomplish while the two of us are sector leaders of your sector and what we hope to help improve"

the crowd cheered loudly at her words, Sierra calling out Iris's name her call being drowned out by the cheers of the crowd. Iris waited a minute for the crowd to quiet down before she continued again.

"Thank you"

She said patiently into the mic giving a warm smile before she continued on.

"Rosanna and I are currently looking for a dear friend of ours who has been with us for the past 22 years of ours and her life."

Sierra smiled warmly at the mention of her. They were looking for her! They were looking for her and she couldn't help but feel joy rise up in her chest. The sound of them worrying about her and genuinely caring about her brightened up her heart and her day. She made her way quicker through the crowd calling out again for iris but her voice was still drowned out by the loud chatter of the crowd.

"This is Sierra"

iris motioned towards the large screen behind her as an image Sierra was all to familiar of popped onto the giant screen. It was of her face, she gaped at the sight of the image of her looking at herself through a mirror that was shown. Her hair was down and her glasses on like they always were. It was strange for her to see her own picture on the large screen, along with hearing the next words the demon said next into the mic.

"She is a very important person to both of us and we'd like it if anyone could please keep an eye out for her."

The image zoomed out and Sierra could feel her heart hit the bottom of her stomach as she took in the sight of the words at the bottom of her picture.

'Wanted, alive and unharmed'

the red words read out at the bottom. Sierra could feel her head begin to ache deeply as a headache began to form. Tears prickled at her eyes as she felt her breath begin to quicken, she could feel an incredible pain begin to ache in her mouth under her teeth and in her gums. Her hearing was going out slightly as the pain grew more intense and panic began to eat at her.

'They lied to you!'

Varies's words that she had yelled at her rang through her mind as she began to back away from the direction she had been heading mere moments before. Iris was still speaking into the microphone but Sierra couldn't hear her properly, it sounded as if the whole crowd was underwater. She couldn't seem to draw enough air into her lungs, the crowd seemed to press more and more closely around her body. She kept backing away from the stage she had been a minute ago racing to get too. She felt trapped, fear and panic beginning to consume her mind as she backed into someone who caught onto her. Sierra could vaguely hear the person talking to her but she couldn't make out the sounds right somehow. Her chest felt wrong, it felt too tight and loose all at once. She couldn't speak her mouth stayed clamped shut even as the person gently holding onto her seemed to repeat themselves sounding concerned for her lack of a response. The hands that were holding her shoulders turned her around and she was met with the sight of a concerned looking blonde haired elf man who seemed to immediately back away from her when he took in the sight of the panicked looking girl. Sierra unaware of her appearance only saw the look of fear on her face and began to panic more she could feel koukai nuzzles his nose with her palm and gently took her hand in his mouth and led her quickly away from the quickly concerned and worried group of people around them. Sierra's breathing was growing more and more ragged as koukai lead her through the crowd. The dirty blonde took in the sight of the looks of horror and concern that crossed every persons face as she was lead through the crowd. She was in so much pain, her eyes seemed to burn horribly and her ears seemed to have stopped working completely, her mouth seemed to have stopped working completely. She felt horrified when she tasted an overwhelming amount of copper in her mouth. Her panic grew even more when she felt one of her teeth come out from her gums with an ease that terrified her. She slowly with her single free hand reached for her mouth and slowly opened her mouth and slowly let whatever contents that had been forming in her mouth fall onto the palm of her hand. She didn't realize she had begun screaming loudly when she finally realized she was holding a mess of decaying teeth and gums in her hand. Blood and coagulated blood making the sight look even more horrific, she quickly flung the decaying mess off of her hand quickly noticing the feeling of something warm leaking from her eyes and ears. She quickly touched underneath her ears and eyes and pulled her hand back to look at her fingertips covered in far too much blood than she liked to see. She screamed even louder than before.

"Sierra If you're watching this don't worry your not really under arrest hun! If anything you'd be under arrest for being too cute!"

Iris spoke into the microphone, before winking again at the small camera drone that was in front of her close enough to capture her face but not too close to be considered rude. The demon couldn't help but frown internally at the sight of the camera. The only reason she was doing this whole dumb orientation ceremony was because Rosanna was still recovering from zalgos cowardly attack that had hit the fallen angel head on. The demon held back a grimace at the reminder, she really had wanted to tear the creepypasta monster to bloodily shreds after he had harmed the other. She had never been one for events like this, if anything Rosanna was the one who was better at events like this. She was the brains of all of the duos plans and deals that they had made over the decades they had known each other. While iris was the light show that would district everyone while the real plan went underway. Her natural confidence addictive to many of the humans they had tricked in the past. Men who wanted to gain money and abilities to seduce the women they wanted most in there lives even if they were sacrificing their lives for it. She and Rosanna were a team that were stronger together than apart, not that they had ever really been apart from each other for since they found each other again all those decades ago. The demon brought herself out of her thoughts about the fallen angel as she noticed quite a few members of the crowd closet to the stage trying to get her attention. She pulled the mic away from her lips as she made her way to them hearing them shout through cupped hands and wildly pointing towards the middle of the large crowd.

"she's in the crowd!"

Iris couldn't help but gape at their words whispering to herself in relief.

"Sierra?"

She glanced to the crowd watching as several people waved their arms in an attempt to get her to notice where the human was. Iris smiled warmly before the loud screaming rang out from where the parting crowd was. It was Sierra's voice. Iris quickly spoke into the mic

"everyone near Sierra Please back away from her."

She quickly slammed the mic back onto its stand before she was leaping of into the crowd running through them her ears keyed in on the sound of Sierra's scream's. Panic filling her as the crowd moved out of her way and she saw Sierra a few yards being led away from the stage by a large dark brown furred creature. She took in the sight of the humans fearful expression as she looked up towards the demon. Iris couldn't help but skid to a stop her sandals sliding to a stop on the grass and cobblestone ground underneath her. The crowd was silent as Sierra continued to unknowingly scream louder than before her on free hand gripping at her head as she weakly followed the large creature that was leading her gently, her right hand in its mouth. Iris couldn't take her eyes off of the sight of the dull red that was spilling on the sides of her face, underneath her eyes and ears. Iris shouted loudly

"Sierra stop!"

The human kept walking seemingly unaware that the demon had called for her. Her screaming soon turned into loud harsh coughing and then gagging as she turned away from the large creature her face contorted into one of pain as she fell to the cobblestone street her right hand slipping from the creatures hold as she clutched at her stomach and promptly threw up onto the ground before her. The crowd watched in a mix of horror and concern at the sight of coagulated blood, partly decayed teeth and gums. Iris couldn't help but take in the look of Sierra as she opened her eyes and looked up at her, her eyes an intense red as if they were extremely irritated and her irises a brilliant glowing blue that casted light across her cheeks. Iris couldn't help but feel a sense of concerned horror as the humans eyes made contact with her and the human mouthed her name her eyes brimming with tears that washed away some of the red that was in her eyes. Iris reached for the human and began to make her way toward Sierra as the creature behind the dirty blonde grew larger and grabbed onto the back of her t-shirt and pulled her onto its back and began to run out of the crowd. Iris stalled for a second before she growled lowly her eyes shouting in frustration as she allowed her wings to rip out from her back. Taloned and pitch black wings tearing through skin and the back of her light blue sleeveless top. She hissed at the pain, unused to it from the lack of her ever really using them. She tore through the sky, uncaring that the several cameras were all trained on the event as she tore towards Sierra who looked back at her from where she held onto the back of the giant creature she was riding on. Iris came closer and closer her eyes watching Sierra's face as she flew towards her. The human's face contorted into one of panic and fear before it broke into one of brief clarity. Iris looked at her confused as Sierra's eyes grew brighter and brighter before she finally flung her left arm out towards the demon. Iris grew confused before a loud cracking came from the ground before the two of them the crowd shouting loudly for her to stop as something large shot out from the ground in a moment of loud thunderous cacophony of sound that rang in her ears. The demon hovered in place as she looked up at the gigantic tree that grew before her, the trunk of the tree grew thicker and thicker as the seconds went by. Branches grew and split as it grew taller and taller than any tree iris had ever seen before in her life. She could only gape at the sight of the dark brown barked tree that finally slowed in its growth when it finally towered over the capital building and slowly at first prismatic colored flowers began to bloom all over the trunk of the tree, their petals see through like a dragonfly's wings and thick vines coiling and growing high above in the trees canopy. After what felt like an hour of looking up at the colossal tree did iris finally hear the crowd yelling to her. 'Oh what now?!' She asked herself as she payed attention to what the crowd below her was shouting. Something about someone getting away, her eyes widened as she realized that they were talking about Sierra.

"Sierra"

She said quickly as she flew around the trees thick trunk trying to shrug off the uncomfortable feeling the sight of it alone gave her. When she made it to the other side she quickly saw the tail end of the creature Sierra had been riding going around the corner of a alleyway. She began to make her way towards them but gave up when she reached the edge of the crowd. Her face twisting into one of frustrated concern as she landed onto ground a pit forming in her gut when she remembered the look of pain and betrayal Sierra had given her when she had flung her arm back when the tree first sprouted out of the ground.

'Rosie is going to fucking kill me when I get back.'

Sierra looked up from where she had vomited when the sudden wave of nausea had hit her to the sight of iris in front of her. A few yards away but still close enough for the hybrid to see her look of disbelief and horror cross her face. She could feel her heartbeat quicken in panic and pain when koukai grabbed onto the back of her shirt and flung her onto his back her hands instantly grabbing onto his neck fur and he began to run quickly through the cleared path the crowd had made. Her entire head hurt so much, throbbing in time with her heartbeat. She couldn't hear anything at all and her eyes burned painfully as her tears began to slide down her cheeks from her eyes. She glanced backwards watching iris fly towards them, her face determined and concerned. Sierra wanted to laugh at the sight, her mind a mess of jumbled thoughts and emotions. She wanted to scream, laugh and cry all at once, She most of all wanted her heart to stop hurting so much as it did right then.

'Wake me up'

a small quiet voice whispered to her in her frazzled mind.

'Where are you?'

She asked Immediatley her eyes still watching iris grow closer and closer towards them.

'In the ground, please wake me up'

the voice answered quickly, pleading with her at the end. She felt confused but felt a moment of clarity wash over her as she flung her left arm back looking down to the ground that was still before iris. She could feel energy leaving her body as she urged whatever it had been that had spoke to her to wake up. No sooner had she flung her arm did the cobblestone street behind her split and break as a thin sapling quickly sprouted from the ground and shot upward growing quickly. Sierra could feel the rumbling of the ground from where she laid of koukai's back, it was thunderous and almost shook her off of the Minerva's back. She could only gape at the sight of the giant tree that she had 'woken up' it still grew as the seconds ticked by and koukai was quick to take the opportunity of distraction to run quickly from the crowd Sierra halfheartedly holding on as she watched the tree bloom with prismatic colored flowers her sight of the tree cutting off when koukai turned into an alleyway.

'What the fuck!'

She screamed internally as koukai bunched his wings over her slightly. The dirty blonde hardly paying much mind to the deep aching throb of her head anymore after witnessing the random tree growing out of nowhere.

'Koukai did....did I do that?'

She asked the Minerva hesitantly as she buried her face into her back fur trying to snap out of her moment of shock.

'I believe you did'

his voice responded quickly as he climbed up the the side of a building and began to jump from roof to roof, Sierra tightening her grip all the while as they escaped deeper into the city. The hybrid could feel her shock beginning to slowly fade away as pain began to make itself know again. Her ears were ringing with white noise and her eyes when she did open them could hardly look around clearly, her mouth though. She gently touched a loose tooth with her tongue, cringing at the feeling of the tooth cracking and falling apart from the touch alone. She spat out the tooth, small bits of tooth enamel and gums sticking to it from her mouth.

'Shit, koukai I think I'm dying or something?'

She spoke to him through their bond grimacing when she could feel the familiar vibrations of his laughter underneath her hands and fingers.

'Don't be ridiculous, your not dying!'

He chided her, his voice exasperated with her. She could only whine unknowingly at his chiding as she felt more around her mouth, grimacing as she felt more and more of her teeth and gums fall away before she spat them out over side of the Minerva her eyes shut as she let herself blindly hold onto the other.

'Then what's happening smart guy?'

She asked sarcastically her tone to the other tired and fearful. It took a moment before the Minerva answered her question.

'I'm not completely sure'

Sierra gave the Minerva a whine of frustration as she buried her face into his back fur again her body bouncing up and down onto the Minerva's body as he jumped to another rooftop before he finally landed onto the sidewalk below a crowd of people rushing out of his way as he landed and began to run down another alley.

'But! I can just sense that your not dying okay?'

Sierra sighed out of her nose before she nodded her face still pressed up into his fur, immediately regretting it when her head ached from the movement.

'Ugh, ow okay yeah I agree with you on that'

she answered as she weakly opened her eyes wincing at the bright light that shone through koukai wings that were pressed over her.

'Your wings are pretty'

She thought a small childish giggle slipping past her lips unknowingly as she gingerly touched at the feathers pressed over her. Smiling at the sensation of the feathers, memories of when she was in middle and elementary school resurfaced in her mind. Memories of when her dad had gotten a parrot for himself and when she asked for one, and he had gotten her a small albino cockatiel. Memories of when she would take the bird she had named penny out of her cage and would just spend hours just petting her wings and head feathers in awe at how soft they felt under her fingers.

'You got feathers like penny'

she told koukai her words slurring slightly as her head began to feel stuffed full of cotton and her mouth felt numb and tingly. She barely registered feeling koukai laughing as he slowed his pace before he stopped suddenly then he slowly lifted his wings from their spot over her.

'Sierra?'

He asked gingerly as she whined loudly, the sun was too bright and stung at her eyes. He huffed out of his nose before he gently lifted her up from his back by the back of her shirt and gently sat her onto the grass covered ground of the small secluded park that he had found. No one seemed to be aware of its presence so he had figured it would be a good spot to let Sierra recover from whatever her body was going through. The Minerva sniffed at her when she leaned back onto the single tree that was in the park with a sigh her eyes weakly open her hands limply resting in her lap. She looked up at him giving him a lazy closed mouthed smile that made her look just a bit dopey. He looked around protectively again before he circled around her and the thin tree a few times before he finally settled around her. Curling protectively around her watching as the ragged looking hybrid slowly leaned onto his side and close her eyes and allowed herself the brief moment of calm the Minerva could allow her.

Sierra didn't know how long she laid there pressed up against koukai, doing nothing but slowly breathing and feeling the others slightly rough fur. Her eyes closed and unseeing and her ears deaf to the world around them. She felt safe with the large Minerva in that moment in time, she could feel her mind slowly calming down before she finally began to go through her cluttered thoughts as calmly as she could. When she began to start crying quietly when she thought about iris koukai calmly licked at her face and her hair the feeling of his gentle worry calming a deep aching part of her that she couldn't help but start crying in relief that he was there with her. When she felt frustration when she thought about varies the Minerva calmly pressed his head over her body in his own version of a hug. She couldn't help crying tears of frustrated anger and confusion at her feelings towards the daemon but decided that she forgave her for the things she had decided to tell her.

'Can't shoot the messenger'

she told herself as she curled her fingers into koukai's fur. The worst had to be when she finally though about herself, and the news of her true species. She had felt an immense amount of self hate and fear of those she cared about back on earth when she thought about it. What would they think about her?, would they call her a freak and leave her alone in the world? The thought alone of being left alone frightened her so much that she had driven herself into a panic attack that made koukai press her up against his chest and make her listen to his slow rhythmic breathing eventually she had begun to follow his example and relaxed against him. Her eyes stopped aching first, when she opened them she took in the sight of koukai's giant face looking down at her. His watery dark brown eyes showing that look of intelligence that made her smile up at him and allowed him to calmly lick at her face. She pulled out her phone and looked in awe at the sight of her eyes look appearance from her phones camera. Her eyes were still the usual blue green and hazel they had always been but she watched in awe at the slight glow of blue that burned brightly in them. As if someone had lit a blue fluorescent lightbulb in her head and the light had begun to shine out from her eyes. The sight alone made her smile even as she wiped away the dried blood from under her eyes with a towel that she had gotten back on earth and had wetted with some water from her water bottle. She took in the sight of her appearance taking in the look of her now flawless skin. It made she feel uneasy and something she had a feeling was confidence in her appearance. When she looked around her vision was crystal clear like when she had first gotten a new pair of glasses and she would feel like she could see everything for miles on end. She avoided looking everywhere but where the giant tree she had grown stood proudly. It still unnerved a primal part of her how easy that had been. She looked at the ground before her, the grass was a pale green and looked healthy but Sierra felt that the whole area looked a bit colorless and faded. She stared hard at the grass before her, ears still ringing with white-noise and her mouth still numb.

'Flowers, gotta think flowers'

she thought about irises and roses, how delicate they looked and how they could easily lose their petals if someone wasn't careful when they were being held or picked. She could feel the same sensation from before of energy leaving from her hands and the bottoms of her feet. She stared harder at the grass before her concentrating on different kinds of flowers that she wanted to bloom around them. The grass perked up then slowly at first then a single bud began to grow from the earth. Sierra watched in awe as the flower bud grew and grew until it was up to her chest. She smiled warmly gently cradling the flower bud in her right hand as the bud opened revealing a brilliant bloom. As it petals spread out fully she couldn't help but smile warmly at the sight of the odd flower that looked like a mix of a carnation and rose.

She spent the next few minutes just laying against koukai's side and looking at the flower she made, hardly paying any mind when dozens of flowers of all kinds began growing all over the hidden bit of park. When her hearing came back she allowed koukai to lick at the sides of her face even as she grimaced at the feeling of his catlike tongue rasping at her skin. She couldn't e bothered by it to much when she realized she could hear so much more clearer than before. She could hear the birds above them in the tree chirping, along with the distant sounds of people talking and going about there day. She had to admit it was odd that she could hear them so well but the hybrid shrugged her concern away as she focused on the last bit of pain that rang throughout her face. Her mouth still ached as she slowly pried tooth after rotting tooth out from her mouth, she grimaced at the sight of them and avoided looking at the mess of gums that would come up with them every time. Soon much to her relief the pain eventually faded away and she carefully felt around her mouth with her tongue. She couldn't help but stiffen when she felt teeth in the place where her old teeth had been mere moments before. After pulling her camera up again on her phone she couldn't help but look on in confusion at the sight of her new set of teeth, or rather her two new sets of teeth. She opened her mouth wider tilting her head down slightly to take in the sight of the two sets of teeth along with the small single pair of dark brown mandibles that were underneath the tip of her tongue. She looked at the foreign part of her mouth watching in horror as it clicked together as she took a breath in.

'Yep those are real....and their in my mouth'

she told herself as she carefully moved her tongue back as she gently touched the new part of her mouth. They felt hard and smooth, and when she dared to try tugging at the them she felt the sensation of something being tugged at. It was a part of her, as much as the hybrid wanted to chalk it up as a hallucination from her panicking earlier she couldn't. It was there and after a few awkward attempts at talking and staring at the camera phone watching the small set of clicking mandibles move as she spoke a few nonsense words to herself to see if they would she sighed. They were a part of her and she could only hope that this was a normal occurrence for the species varies had told her she was.

'What was it again she called me?'

She asked herself laying back against koukai who sniffed at her hair before he laid his larger head on top of her's. She closed her eyes and thought about what varies had told her.

'magi? I think that's what she said?'

She guesses as she opened her eyes again and watched in silence as the small pile where she had put her rotting teeth and gums at now had grass and small sprouts of flowers growing from it. She couldn't help but find it oddly beautiful as the grass and flowers quickly covered up where the small pile of rotting enamel and nerves had once been.

'Circle of life'

she told herself as she looked back at the flower that she had made. It's petals were a crystal clear color that seemed to shift and change in the sunlight. She moved her hand towards it smiling as it slowly followed her hand, she moved it up slightly, the flowers stem would straighten to its full height, she moved her hand down? The opalescent bloom would follow. She finally touched the bloom watching as it coiled itself around her wrist and seemingly with a mind of its own it's roots and leaves pulled out from the ground and weaved themselves around her wrist like a living bracelet. She could feel its roots touch her skin and only winced slightly when they dug slightly into her skin, the flower seemed to grow more alive when it finally settled around her wrist. She smiled softly at it

"guess your coming with huh lil guy?"

She asked smiling at the flower, koukai huffed down at the flower before he leaned down pushing sierra's head down as he sniffed at the flower. Sierra shouting in frustration at the Minerva her free hand gently smacking at one of his cheeks.

"KOUKAI YOU ASS!"

She shouted a laugh interrupting her words as she finally shoved him off of her head.

"Careful koukai! We don't wanna hurt them."

She gently chided cradling the flower on her right wrist with her left and pulling it closer to her stomach in an attempt to protect the flower. He huffed at her licking the back of her hair making her yelp in surprise before she laughed loudly at him getting up to her feet when the Minerva made a move to lick her face again.

"Ha! Try and lick me again you dork!"

She yelled as she ran from the Minerva smiling widely for the first time since She had ran from the capital building. Koukai ran after her the size of a lion and making her break out into a peal of loud laughter when she ran around the small park weaving around the Minerva before he finally leaped onto her, licking at her face wildly his tail wagging all the while. She wrestled with him on the ground until he was on his back and she cheered at her small victory against the other. He snorted at her when she whooped loudly and began to cheer about her win.

"Haha! No one can ever beat the punlord in their awesomeness!"

Koukai could only make his odd chortling laughter at the hybrids reaction to winning. If the Minerva could smile in that moment as he watched his bond partner cheer and jump around the clearing, with the energy he had seen he have before when they had been back in the woods, he would have.


	17. Chapter 16: a bit of a history lesson and a shot heard round the world

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sierra and Koukai after her latest breakdown relax and take sometime in the park for a moment until a group of six natives of connections enter the park, Iris and Rosanna have a serious discussion about recent events, a few important members of connection witness the livestream disaster while beginning to come to their own conclusions of the new hybrid that shows up during it, and a new friend tell's an important story of connections history to sierra.

Sierra and koukai stayed in the small park they had found, Sierra enjoying the small reprieve of finally being away from everyone and having some time to herself, though the two hadn't noticed the sound of an approaching group that had been coming from one of the four entrances that lead to the small bit of park. Sierra had been hanging upside down from the tree while she worked on making a flower crown from the dozens of wildflowers that now grew in the park thanks to her, koukai had been laying underneath her his eyes shut and his body relaxed now that his bond partner was in a much calmer state of mind. Though the both of them jolted when someone shouted loudly.

"holy shit!"

It had been a high pitched voice that made Sierra jerk and look around panicked, koukai immediately perking up and catching Sierra with his back when she fell from the tree Branch she had been hanging from mere moments before. The two looked up to where a small group of five stood at one of the four alleyway entrances. The one who had shouted was a small irken with light purple eyes that was about three feet tall her slightly curled antenna and the small eyelashes told Sierra she was a female. The other four of the group were quiet even as the small irken continued shouting, her arms flailing wildly as she gestured to Sierra and koukai who just awkwardly stared back. The tallest of the group, a tall pale white skinned woman with long straight light brown hair that was partly pulled into a ponytail and long elf ears, moved forward to place a hand gently atop the female irken who was still shouting.

"ITS THE LADY FROM THE TV-"

"Taz, we know"

the taller spoke calmly, rolling her four forest green eyes at the irken. The irken taz as she had been called immediately quieted down looking up at the taller her small hands balling up into fists that she placed on the sides of her hips.

"Well sorry Monica I just wanted to make sure you all knew what was up is all!"

She spoke pouting at the taller woman now named Monica. Sierra was silent as she carefully readied herself onto koukai, prepared to book it out of the small park and leave before things got worse.

"Wait!"

The two of them stiffen up at the shout a tall gray and light green skinned man stepping forward. He vaguely reminded Sierra of Varies though the sight of his long tail that was covered in long messy black fur made her pause in confusion.

"Sorry about taz yelling like that at y'all she just got a bit surprised is all."

He explained calmly, three of the other members of their group nodded in agreement, Monica speaking up as they did so.

"Yeah she doesn't really have an off switch sadly."

She chuckled out when taz hissed up at her, and smacked at her leg making the taller smile warmly her four forest green eyes to crinkle as she laughed at the irken. Sierra was quiet before she hesitantly slid off of koukai's back slowly moving closer to the group.

"I-it's Alright I just thought that you'd all"

She paused frowning when she looked up at the group of five and the looks of calm they gave her.

"Get me arrested or something? I guess?"

She finished lamely looking away the palms of her hands sweating as she struggled to break through her anxiety. The group stared at her for a moment before Monica snorted before she began to laugh loudly, Sierra looked up at her confused at the others reaction.

"Wait! You think your actually on the wanted list?!"

Monica spoke up when her laughter quieted down enough, Sierra could only watch in confusion as the taller gently shook her head in disbelief.

"That was a bit she was doing, she was trying to make a joke for you!"

She explained offering a warm smile that Sierra found slightly condescending. Sierra balled her hands up before she snapped at the taller.

"well maybe she shouldn't have decided to make a joke out of that when she knows how I feel about that kind of shit!"

She glared at the woman, anger and annoyance swelling in her chest at the others words and joking tone about the event.

'I had a fucking panic attack about this shit for fucks sake!'

She swore to herself.

Monica's smile dropped immediately when Sierra shouted at her. Her friends stood surprised at the sudden aggravated words from the other. They hadn't been expecting the woman to shout at them, nor were they expecting the tears that began to drip down her cheeks as she fell to her knees next to the large Minerva beside her. A soft sobbing coming from her as she wiped at her eyes, Monica stiffened up at the sight, guilt eating at her along with an awkward discomfort of the other crying.

"Wow Monica you haven't even been talking for ten minutes and you're already making someone cry."

A dull smug voice spoke up from behind her. The elf-magi hybrid shot a glare at the other irken in their rag-tag group. She only got a tired smirk from the dull yellow eyed irken,

"oh fuck off taff, I wasn't trying to be rude."

Monica hissed at the irken, annoyed at the lack of a response from taff who just yawned at her and shrugged her shoulders.

"Well you have to admit it was kind've rude of you to laugh at her like you did, I mean did you even watch the same welcoming ceremony that we did?"

Taff replied, her pale yellow eyes tired as she spoke up. Monica narrowed her eyes at the darker skinned irken.

"What in ancients are you getting at taffeta?"

The irken made a motion like she was rolling her eyes at the other before she continued on.

"She obviously started having a bit of a panic attack at the welcoming ceremony you diff!, I mean look at her smart Ass she looks a bit different then when she was at the ceremony!"

Taff hissed at the other her antenna laying back as she spoke. Monica could only blink in confusion before she glanced back at the still crying woman who had practically buried her face into the side of her Minerva and dagian began to slowly make his way to the other before he knelt beside the crying woman and began to calmly speak to her. Monica frowned at the sight, her frown deepening when the woman rose her head up and her eye-color made themselves present. The bright near neon blue light that was emitting from her eyes made Monica cringe with guilt.

"Crap"

She whispered quietly watching the grass and flowers around the woman wilt slightly as she cried louder as she aloud dagian to hug her.

"Oh my"

The quiet and gentle voice of agacie came up beside her, the white and light pink repsies with dark pink tufts of fur spoke up from behind her smiling mask.

"She's like you Monica."

Monica flinched at the repsies words.

"How was I supposed to know that?"

She shot at agacie who flinched back slightly before she shot back just as quickly at the taller hybrid.

"Maybe you would have if you had listened to Tobias and Taff!"

The repsies lifted up the smallest person of their group that was in her arms. The small two foot tall teleges waved one of his small three fingered hands, his two sets of horns curled behind his head his small beady eyes stared back up at her before he spoke up in his deep rich voice.

"Sup"

Monica rolled her eyes, annoyance clear in her body.

"agacie let Tobias down you know he doesn't like being carried around like that."

She chided the light pink and white repsies before lamely groaning when the repsies instead helped Tobias onto her shoulders.

"I can't he likes feeling taller."

Taff snorted at her words before speaking up.

"Monica relax and just go fucking apologize to the girl, it's the least you can do for laughing in her face like you did."

Taff replied gesturing back to where taz and dagian now were talking with the woman who had calmed down considerably since her bout of crying had started. Monica heaved out a sigh suddenly feeling ten times more tired than she had been mere moments before.

'Lets go to the hideout they said, let's go eat lunch there they said, it'll be fun they said'

she told herself as she made her way over to where the woman sat at. Her bright blue green hazel eyes looked up at her when she came close to her.

"Uh look i-I'm"

Monica coughed slightly into a fist before going on.

"I'm sorry I upset you miss?"

She paused struggling to think of the name the woman had, she really should have been paying more attention to the welcoming ceremony livestream than she had.

"It's Sierra."

The dirty blonde answered awkwardly offering an empty smile to her.

"And it's fine I guess, you probably didn't realize what's been going on with me is all, you didn't know"

Sierra answered pressing up against the Minerva who leaned his head down close to Monica and began to sniff at her head and body as if trying to figure out what the elf hybrid was up to.

"So"

Monica began again awkwardly, pointedly avoiding making any eye contact with the still teary eyed dirty blonde woman before her.

"want to eat lunch with us?"

She rubbed at the back of her neck looking away awkwardly. Sierra gave a gentle smile at the others offer before she nodded.

"Yeah I'd like that."

Half an hour later and all seven of them were sitting comfortably on the ground eating some food. Sierra was leaning up against koukai taking sips of water in-between bites of bread, candy and fruit that she had in her capthaloge deck. The large fruit from the lux arbor tree had tasted sweet and bitter like a Granny Smith apple. She did accept some cake from the tall light pink and white repsies with tufts of dark pink fur on her tail and the ends of her long drooping ears. It had been sweet and tasted like honey and strawberries that made her smile warmly at the taste. She couldn't help but watch the six others halfheartedly, curious about how they all knew each other. Taz laid sprawled across the lap of the other irken while she ate from a bag of hard candys that she had in her hands. From what Sierra could see they didn't look anything that she had ever seen back on earth. Taz caught her staring at the candy and wordlessly offered a small handful of the unwrapped candies to her. Sierra reached her hand to take the offered candy from the smaller irken before dagian's gray and forest green hand blocked them suddenly, his typically calm and quiet voice now loud and warning.

"Wait! Don't eat that candy!"

Sierra could only look at him owlishly when the bearded man daemon shouted at her.

"Uh... why not?, I mean it's just some candy I think I can more than handle that"

she explained giving him a slight smirk and a raised eyebrow. The daemon rolled his eyes before gesturing at the candy.

"It's because it's irken candy!"

He said it as if it was common knowledge to know.

"And?"

The dirty blonde really didn't know where he was going with this conversation.

"Irken sugar is so sweet that most species would probably get diabetes or some other kind of illness!"

He explained giving her a look of concern. Sierra looked back and the offered handful of candy that Taz still had in her hand, the two made eye contact the irken gave her a wink before she suddenly loudly shouted.

"dag has a crush on mr. clay from history!"

The daemon flushed darkly at her words as the rest of the group caught up to her words.

"What?"

Taff responded at the news, a surpised look on her face that melted into a smirk.

"oh my"

Agacie whispered quietly bringing a white furred hand up to her revealed mouth her mask pushed up on her face. Monica flushed darkly at the news, before she muttered quietly to herself.

"oh sweet ancients"

Sierra was so caught up with their reactions that she hadn't realized when Taz had pressed the handful of hard candies into her hand. She looked at the irken watching as they leaped up and shouted loudly.

"Haha! Taz has gotten away with yet another incredible move of genius!"

Sierra was quick to pop one of the candies into her mouth grimacing slightly at the bland taste of what tasted like rice paper.

"Taz! I'm going to fucking kill you!"

Dagian yelled at the small irken before he got up onto his feet and began to run after the small lilac eyed irken, who only laughed loudly at him.

"You'll never capture the almighty Taz! You fool"

she had looked back at dag her pak legs helping her run from the other. Though she hadn't realized she was running straight for the tree. Dag could only cringe when the irken smacked hard into the tree face first.

"Oof, That's gotta hurt"

he hissed in an pained breath from what he could imagine the smaller irken was feeling. Taff cackled loudly from where she was still sitting on the ground, her pale yellow eyes crinkling up in laughter.

"Well no one can say she didn't have that coming"

tobais spoke up from where he sat atop of agacie's shoulders. Monica snorted at his words before she began to laugh loudly at the scene. Sierra chuckled too before she decided to offer her opinion on the candy that Taz had sneaked to her.

"Hehe yeah, and this candy isn't to bad either!"

The while group went quiet at the implication of her words, Taz pulling herself off of the tree being the only other sound in the small park.

"Wait what?"

Dagian asked from where he still stood his arm outstretched to help Taz up onto her feet. When the irken grabbed onto his hand did he speak.

"you gave her some of your candy!?"

Taz looked up at the daemon nodding and rolling her eyes.

"Yes Taz did, did you not figure this out?"

She asked sarcastically, a pained look on her face as she rubbed at the space in between her eyes where a small bruise was already forming at. Sierra could get the sinking feeling as she get the rice paper around the candy melt away and started to taste the barest trace of overly sweet strawberries and cream.

"Holy shit"

she whispered quietly as she went starry eyed as the taste of strawberries and rich sweet cream filled her mouth in a way no candy had ever before. Monica watched her carefully before she smacked at her forehead.

"I can't fucking believe I forgot"

"what?"

tobais asked from his perch atop agacie's shoulders.

"She's a magi hybrid that's what!, she'll be more than able to handle irken candy."

She groaned into her palms as she ran a hand through her long black hair.

"Really?"

Taz spoke up in between pained breaths. Monica rolled her eyes at the irken.

"yes really you dumbass, magi hybrids are able to eat nearly as much sugar as your crazy species"

she explained looking away before she took another bite of a rice-ball that was wrapped in a burnt orange colored leaf of some kind.

"Wait"

the lilac eyed irken began,

"but you don't eat candy?"

Taz gave a confused look to the elf hybrid.

"I don't like eating sweet stuff"

she waved off as she finished off the small ball of leaf covered rice ball.

"Reminds me too much of an ex of mine."

She finished lamely looking away from the irken.

"Huh?, never knew that"

the irken said as she rubbed at her face where she had collided with the tree, hissing as she did so before her pak clicked loudly a few times and she sighed in relief.

"There we go."

She said as she made her way to sit next to Sierra again. Dagian spoke up his face curious.

"so no one is gonna keel over from eating an irken candy?"

"No dag, no one's gonna keel over today."

Taff answered dryly, dag made a slight frown letting out a soft aww at the news. Sierra couldn't help but stiffen up at the sound.

'Wait what?'

They spent the rest of what Sierra could guess was their lunch in quiet conversation, she liked talking to Taz surprisingly enough as the irken seemed to exude an optimistic aura that made the other smile warmly at the sound of her voice alone. She had discovered quite a few things about the group just from their interactions alone. The six of them all went to a nearby college and were studying for several fields that they were genuinely excited for. Taz as it turned out was studying to get a masters degree in robotics and coding, the irken had already finished three years of her studies and was working on her fourth year now. Taff and agacie were both working towards a bachelors degree in culinary as apparently both had a deep love for baking and cooking. She couldn't help but relate to the feeling, she and Sam always talked about baking and would spend hours at home on either of their days off making baked goods whenever they had the supplies and money to put into them. Dagian who apparently was a daemon was working towards his bachelors for astronomy which Sierra couldn't help but see him being good at. Monica however as it turned out was working on a masters degree in genetics which surprised Sierra the most.

"Whoa genetics? Damn that's pretty cool"

"meh yeah I guess, mostly doing it so I can help the future generations create better medicine and help better understand other species that we'll come into contact with."

The elf hybrid explained waving her hand dismissively.

"it's not as impressive as taz's but thanks for the compliment I guess."

Sierra was left slightly befuddled at the reaction unsure of how to exactly take the others words.

'Was that a thank you? Or a fuck you?'

She asked herself, as she bit down on the fifth candy that she had popped into her mouth. She couldn't help melting against koukai's side when the taste of grape's and cranberries filled her mouth. She didn't care if it was or not as she sighed out of her nose enjoying the taste of the candy Taz had given her.

Tobais as she found out his name was, was something called a teleges. A creature that seemed to look almost like a living breathing doll of some kind. His small beady eyes shone with an intelligence that Sierra couldn't help but feel curious about. Two light blue sets of horns covered his head and a few dotted marking of a darker shade of blue lined around his eyes. His skin was a Snow White color, almost as white as a sheet of writing paper. All in all the small male looked so tiny compared to everyone else, something that Sierra couldn't help but smile at. He also brought up into the conversation how he was working on his doctorate in mathematics and a masters in psychology. The mention of both alone made her go wide eyed at the idea of how much money had to go into paying for that much college. The thought alone reminded her of when she went to college once, failed a class then went back again to pass that class before she decided that maybe just maybe she wasn't quite ready for college at the moment, mentally and financially.

"Sweet mirth this must cost a fucking fortune for all of you"

She said running a hand down her face as she thought about how much money they had to have poured into the classes. She shuddered at the thought of the debt they all must be in.

"What are you talking about? College is free here"

Dagian said giving her a look of confusion. Sierra looked up at him wide eyed, free? Collage was free here?

"Wait what?"

"Yeah! The sector's pay for all of the higher education that people go to!"

Taz spoke up next to her, leaning across sierra's lap lazily and playing with one of the flowers on the ground.

"All the sector's do it that way, I mean they have more than enough money to cover the classes."

Sierra could feel herself short circuiting at the new information, she could if she really wanted to when she got more settled in could get a degree here. She felt herself getting faint at the idea of not worrying about paying for classes.

"How long has that law been in action for now?"

Agacie asked Monica her revealed mouth quirking into a curious smile.

"I think almost 200 years now, give of take. I think Taff probably knows better than me."

The elf hybrid said before she took a sip of her coffee.

"Taff?"

Agacie asked the yellow eyed irken who was quietly eating a piece of cake the repsies had offered her. She swallowed the bit before she spoke up in a tired tone.

"Uh I believe about 168 years now, I don't know the exact amount of time I'm not that old guys."

She finished giving a tired look to the two before she took another bite of her cake. Sierra could only blink at the news numbly taking it in.

"well shit wasn't expecting that today"

she said to herself quietly not expecting to be heard.

"What do you mean?"

Taz spoke up from where she still laid across the others lap her lilac eyes still focused on the flowers before her.

'Shit guess I said that out loud'

she chided herself for speaking out loud.

"Uh well back on earth or rather in America we had to pay for college and university. At least unless we had a scholarship or something like that."

She explained the best she could, struggling to not stumble over her words. Monica spoke up.

"so like how much was, I mean it couldn't be that much."

Sierra gave her a nervous smile before she answered.

"Actually it was pretty expensive, I think the one class that I had to retake cost about 300 dollars at most."

Monica sputtered at the price, almost choking on what coffee was still in her mouth all the while. 

"What! Please tell me your joking?"

She asked incredulously as if the price alone was something unheard of.

"I kinda wish i was now that you said that but yeah no college let alone university costed an arm and a leg."

She finished lamely looking away, grimacing when the most of the group made looks of befuddlement and horror.

"Damn your version of earth sounds like a shithole."

Taff spoke up dully, getting a chuckle from Taz.

"cuz"

the shorter irken teased the taller how simply shrugged and took another bite of her cake. The dirty blonde couldn't help but laugh weakly at taff's words.

"yeah it kinda is"

she sighed as she spoke before she brightened up when an idea teased at the corner of her mind.

"But I believe that one day people will get their stuff together and finally work to improving everything for everyone."

She could feel the swell of hope for her home planets future as she spoke.

"It May be terrible there right now but one day it'll pass and people will think more clearly about what their doing and how they'll look past simple things like skin color and stuff like that and work together and be equals."

She went silent from her impromptu speech stiffening up when she took in the sight of everyone in the group looking at her wide eyed and speechless.

"Uh s-Sorry about th"

"Shh Shh don't apologize for speaking your mind!"

Taz spoke up sitting upright and gripping the sides of Sierra's face the small gloved hands squishing the others cheeks slightly as her lilac eyes bore into the others gently glowing blue green hazel ones.

"You should be proud to be able to dream of a future like that for your own home! No one can tell you what you can and can't dream of even if it seems impossible!"

The dirty blonde could only watch as the irken spoke proudly and clearly as if she was doing a speech in front of a crowd instead of a small group of seven people and one very large Minerva.

"And I the amazing Taz!"

She got up and stood next to the dirty blonde a gloved hand on her chest when she said her name.

"Think that you!"

She pointed a finger at Sierra's face making her go cross eyed looking at the finger in her face.

"Should look forward to your hopes and dreams for your home! And hopefully can also help your home get to that dream!"

Sierra couldn't help but stare wide eyed at the irken befuddled by the sheer positivity that came from her words.

"Uh"

the group was silent before Taff from her spot began to clap slowly a small warm smile on her face. Taz beamed at the other Irken, her lilac eyes lighting up as the others in the group began to clap as well a slight chuckle coming from one or two of the members. Sierra couldn't help but give a warm smile up to the irken who stood proudly with her hands on her hips.

"So I guess your speech class inspired you earlier today Taz?"

Monica spoke up chuckling slightly from her spot, Taz rolled her eyes at the hybrid before she shrugged.

"maybe but that is for me to know and you to guess."

She said before she stuck her tongue out at the hybrid who chuckled at her antics.

Sierra couldn't help but thank Taz when she sat back down next to her.

"Uh Taz?"

Her voice was quiet and unsure as she tapped gently at the irkens shoulder, fingertips barely touching the soft fabric of the short sleeved purple and pink lined dress she wore.

"Thank you for saying that, I didn't realize how much exactly I needed to hear that."

She looked away hands reaching back to drag one of koukai's large front paws up into her lap, deft fingers gently massaging the digits of his paw as she struggled to get over the tears that wanted to spill over in her. The lilac eyed irken blinked up at her before smiling widely at her.

"it's fine, everyone honestly needs to hear something like that at least once in their life."

She waved one of her gloves hands nonchalantly as if it wasn't a hard task for her to do an impromptu speech like she had.

"Besides people on connection try to help heal people from other planets whenever they come here!"

She looked to everyone giving a wide smile that most of them returned with warm smiles of their own, Sierra couldn't help but notice how taff's smile barely reached her eyes and the pained look that shone in her pale yellow eyes for just the briefest of moments that the dirty blonde seemed to only notice.

"It's true!"

The cheerful voice of agacie spoke up her mask pulled back over her face. The perpetual smile that was painted on her mask matched her voice.

"The ancients would be so proud to see how far we've come from where we once were three hundred years ago!"

Sounds of agreement went throughout the group though Monica's and taff's seemed to be the most restrained and false. Sierra couldn't help the sense of unease that filled her at the sight of the two looking across at each other with a look of understanding and what she could only guess was guilt.

"Uh"

she began before she cleared her throat.

"I don't know a lot about connection but I've been hearing a lot about these 'ancients' but I haven't really had a chance to ask who exactly they were?"

She couldn't help but grimace when she felt everyone's eyes look at her. It felt like they were boring into her, as if she had said something awful without knowing.

"Oh that's right your not from here."

Agacie spoke up her tone soft and understanding though a hint of sadness was underneath her words. Sierra nodded her mouth drawn into a thin line at the sound of the repsies's soft tone.

"Yeah, I'm sorry if I brought up something bad, I wasn't trying to I'm just really confused is all"

she said quickly trying to pour genuine regret into her words for making them all going quiet.

"It's fine"

Monica said quickly as if her words had left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"There's nothing wrong with talking about the past of our planet or the past mistakes of those who fell to greed."

She went on again her words quick and clipped as if the topic made her upset.

"Monica!"

Dagian rose his voice his eyes narrowed at her a barely restrained scowl on his face.

"She doesn't know what our planets history is okay?, so relax! She's not going to blame you for something that not even your fault."

Sierra couldn't help but tense up at the tension that was quickly building up around her. Monica stood up abruptly a look of frustration on her pale face before she jerkily nodded and walked off quickly shouting over her shoulder as she did.

"fine!, go tell her the damn story, I got something to do anyway"

Sierra couldn't help but feel a sense of guilt at how upset the elf hybrid had looked.

"Monica Wait!"

Taz called after her before she ran of after the taller woman. The awkward silence that followed was very unnerving for Sierra to experience after having seen them all so happy and talking amongst each other.

'At least until I opened my mouth.'

She thought to herself bitterly frowning slightly at the thought.

"Hey it's gonna be alright"

she looked up from where she had been staring at her hands in her lap to look into the pale yellow eyes of Taff.

"You sure, I mean I'm sorry if I upset y'all by asking about it I jus-"

Taff rose a bare three fingered hand at the other, stopping her.

"I'm positive, monika just always gets upset whenever we talk about the ancients or rather who killed them"

the irken looked down at her lap lowering her hand.

"But trust us when we say it's not your fault she's upset, she just needs some time to herself and"

Taff paused looking over to where the aforementioned hybrid and Taz were in one of the alleyway's sitting beside each other and Taz's mouth moving as she spoke. Taff couldn't help but frown softly at the sight.

"she just needs to remember that what happened to the ancients had nothing to do with her family."

She finished looking back into sierra's eyes.

"None of us can help being born into a family no matter what kind."

She sighed closing her eyes and sighing softly before she went on.

"Be it your born to a world of wrathful conquers or a world of greedy people who would rather watch their world burn we can only help the person we choose to become after we are born."

Taff finished her words making a shiver run down sierra's spine at the dead look in the irkens eyes. She swallowed shallowly before she slowly nodded in agreement looking quickly around at the other three in the group, the looks of Bitter understanding on their faces. Even Agacie's cheerful mask seemed to exude a sad hint to it's painted smiling face.

"I understand"

she began a serious look of understanding on her face, as she sat up straighter looking at the repsies who had offered to first tell her about the ancients first.

"Please, I know it may be a hard topic but I want to understand this world more."

She gently reached towards the repsies watching with understanding ever glowing eyes as agacie looked up at her, the small light blue beady eyes that were all Sierra could see of the repsies real face made her feel a sense of urgency come over her.

"Please agacie Tell me about the ancients, that's all I ask please."

She was gentle with her words watching the light blue eyes of the other watching her from behind the mask before the repsies reaches with her right pawed arm and gently between her long claw-like fingers grabbed her offered hand.

"I will, we all will Sierra."

Her soft ever gentle voice spoke up from behind her mask, Sierra couldn't help but give her a small grateful smile as she nodded her head.

"thank you"

she croaked out smile weakening as she caught the sight of Monica staring at her from where she sat in the alleyway with Taz who seemed to have pressed herself up next to the hybrid one of her small arms wrapped around the tallers lower back. Sierra pulled back sitting up straight again.

"please tell me as much as you can."

She asked the repsies who nodded immediately.

"Of course, you better get comfortable though."

The dirty blonde raised an eyebrow at her words, confused.

"why exactly?"

"It's a really long fucking story trust me"

Dagian spoke up looking at the ground nodding his head as he spoke a look of wide eyed understanding.

"Ancients your lucky none of us have classes today"

Iris couldn't help the grimace that was on her caramel brown face as she made her way quietly down the hall of the capital building to the room where Rosanna had been resting in for the past two days.

'Had been'

her grimace deepened as she heard from where she was walking Rosanna's loud shouting.

"IRIS DID WHAT!!!"

Yep she was screwed definitely screwed, she couldn't help but swallow weakly as she quickened her pace towards the rooms door. Grabbing a hold of the knob and turning quietly praying to herself that her soulmate wouldn't tear her a new one when she tried to explain herself. The loud shouting and concerned words quieted immediately when she pushed the door open. The caramel skinned demon looked at the scene before her, Rosanna with her light tan face twisted into one of frustration and pain as she in all of her bandaged glory one of her bright blue eyes closed up from the black eye that zalgo had given her when they both had been fighting him a good three days ago. Two trolls dressed in nurse outfits were trying to gently push her back onto the bed that she was struggling to get out of. A tall thin dark brown furred repsies with their mask pushed up onto their forehead stood by in the room awkwardly their pale tan face looking on in concern and confusion. At least until all four of their heads snapped up to look at her,

"Ah sector leader iris! We were about to call you into the room!"

The teen repsies began quickly struggling to not stutter on their words as they spoke.

"It's alright, I kinda guessed that Rosanna would have gotten a bit upset at the livestream so I rushed here as quickly as I could."

Iris quickly explained her eyes glancing at Rosanna as the two trolls gently guided her legs back underneath the plush comforter of the bed, the fallen angel watching the demon with a look she knew all to well.

'Yep she's pissed'

she thought to herself as she took in the sight of her other half's angry glare that was directed at her.

"O-of course miss iris!"

The teen stuttered out their dark green speckled paws holding onto one another tightly. Their clawed thumbs twiddling together in a way that reminded iris of one of Sierra's nervous ticks that she'd do without realizing it. The thought about the human made the demon feel a sharp pang of guilt well up in her chest.

"I'll keep an eye on her you two can leave for now."

She told the two nurses calmly, the maroon and olive blooded trolls nodded before they quickly left the room bowing slightly at her as they left. She quickly made her way beside Rosanna fixing the blanket and pillows behind her back and around her.

"So"

Rosanna began looking at her, the burning inferno of anger still in her eyes as she spoke up in a voice that was far to calm for Iris's likening.

"What the hell exactly was going through your head when you went on stage today for the welcoming ceremony?"

She hissed out as iris leaned across her lap to fix a couple of the pillows beside her body. Iris couldn't help but tense up at Rosanna's question, deep purple eyes met with a single open blue almost navy colored eye that was lined by a think circle of dark almost maroon red. Iris still couldn't help but smile softly to herself at the sight of Rosanna. She looked almost exactly like she had back when they had been alive a century ago, lightly tanned colored skin that she got from her fathers side of the family and beautiful almond shaped eyes from her mothers side, eyes that always drew iris to look into them. She could feel her heart beating hard as she felt herself get lost in them, at least until the wavy haired fallen angel snapped her fingers a couple of times in front of her face.

"Wha?"

"Iris you got distracted again."

The demon couldn't help but chuckle nervously before she coughed awkwardly and straightened up beside the bed.

"Uh sorry, I just couldn't help getting lost in your eyes there."

She admitted weakly left hand scratching at the back of her neck as she spoke. Rosanna gave her a blank look, raising an eyebrow before she spoke

"you say that every time you see my face iris."

Iris stammered slightly at the others words before and awkward cough interrupted the two of them. Two sets of red lined eyes looked at the teen brown and dark furred repsies that still stood in the room, a light dusting of pink on their exposed face as they spoke up stammering.

"Uh d-do you need me to get y-your scholar miss Rosanna and miss I-iris."

The teen said their long drooping ears pulled back slightly as they seemed to avoid looking into the others eyes that seemed to look right through her.

"Uh no that won't be necessary miss Uh? I'm sorry but who are you exactly?"

Iris shook her head as she spoke growing confused at the presence of a teenager in the capital building, let alone one in the same room as her soulmate.

"Oh my name's lazuraus I'm the intern that was interning former sector leader zalgo so that I could learn the odds and ends of being a sector leader!"

Lazuraus explained his voice nervous and shaky as he struggled to look at the two.

"Huh, forgot that I was told about you."

Iris said raising an eyebrow before Rosanna sat up from her spot on the bed.

"Ah I remember you now, lovely name by the way."

The fallen angel said speaking up with a gentle smile on her face that made the teen relax at the sight.

"Uh y-yes I was going to ask you if you both needed anything from me since I'm your intern now."

Lazuraus said speaking nervously their paws wringing together all the while. Iris opened her mouth to tell them to leave before Rosanna cut her off.

"it's quite alright lazuraus dear, we don't need much of anything at the moment though if you could"

the fallen angel smiled warmly at the teen repsies who looked at her with eyes full of nervous energy.

"I've been hearing about a cafe near here that sells tiramisu lattes and some of the best coffee cakes around here, if you would be so kind as to get me some of that I'd be grateful for that."

She asked her dark blue eyes wrinkling up as she smiled at them. Lazuraus nodded quickly.

"o-of course!, Uh miss iris would you like anything as well?"

They asked looking to the demon who stood beside the bedridden fallen angel,

"eh?, oh I guess you can get me a iced caramel coffee while your there if you want?, here let me give you some money for it."

The demon said as she quickly uncaptchaloged a small deep blue and lilac striped wallet before she began to pull out a few fresh bills to hand to lazuraus.

"Ah! It's alright I have more than enough money to be able to pick some up for both of you!"

They began raising their clawed paws up and shaking their head, brown and dark green ears waving back as forth as they did so.

"Thank you for offering to pay but really it's no problem for me, I'll be back soon before you know it!"

Lazuraus finished before they bowed at the both of them and rushed quickly out of the bedroom leaving the two alone in silence before iris broke it with a slight chuckle.

"Lazuraus Huh?, good kid don't you think Rosie?"

The caramel skinned demon asked giving a wry smile to her soulmate who only rolled their eyes at them.

"Oh come on you can't still be mad at me!, how was I supposed to know that the kid was going to be their at the ceremony?!"

She whined looking at Rosanna with an expression of desperation. The tan skinned fallen angel sighed before bringing a hand to her forehead, rubbing at a sore spot one her head before she spoke up quietly.

"you didn't know but that still doesn't give you an excuse for what you joked about there"

she hissed the last few words irritated her single dark blue eyes narrowing at the other. Iris could feel herself wince at Rosanna's words, guilt from earlier welling up again in her chest with a renewed fervor.

'Damn these emotions'

she swore to herself as she felt herself frown weakly. Rosanna sighed again before she looked up into the others eyes, her face bruised and battered from the wounds she had received from the fight they had against zalgo, the fight they won to become the new sector leaders. The fallen angel couldn't help but feel as though she was just being useless at the moment. She should have been out there on the stage today with iris for the ceremony, if she hadn't been so headstrong during the fight she wouldn't be as battered as she was she would have been able to prevent iris from making bad choices she would have-

"Rosanna?"

Iris's voice broke through the other's venomous thoughts of regret. She snapped her single in bruised eye up to look take in the look of rare concern that graced the demons caramel brown skin, purple and red eyes creased in an even rarer look of guilt.

"Iris.."

Rosanna responded her voice going soft and quiet as she looked up at the other, eyes tracing and burning the image of her soulmates face. Her thin face that seemed to never go away no matter how well she ate, her wild medium dark brown curls that framed her face, the way her lips quirked up naturally into a mischievous smile when she realized what the fallen angel was doing.

"You and I both know that if you hadn't taken initiative during that fight I would have been the one bedridden and probably more injured than you."

Iris said pulling up one of the wooden chairs that had been left beside the small table that still had a partly used first aid kit and a barely touched plate of crackers. She sat beside the bed before she gingerly took a hold of the one hand of Rosanna's that wasn't in a sling and wrapped in several layers of gauze. She rubbed her finger over the fallen angels still split knuckles from when she had thrown her punches at the former sector leader.

"I know"

Rosanna sighed her eye growing misty even as iris brought her hand to her lips and gently pressed soft feather light kisses to the small still healing cuts on her knuckles.

"I just can't help thinking that I could have done more during it."

Iris hummed as she spoke nodding in agreement.

"Same here"

she admitted softly before pressing another soft gentle kiss to the others hand, the fallen angel smiling at the sight. The two of them had been through so much, even before they had met Sierra, before they had been in hell, before that they had been human. Alive, happy, breathing humans....at least before the two of them had died horribly. Rosanna shrugged away the less then pleasant memories of their joined deaths, the echoing sounds of gunfire, and the phantom pains in her abdomen where she could remember vaguely being speckled with two nickel sized dots where she had been shot.

"Does this mean your not still mad at me about the ceremony thing?"

Iris asked gently her eyes hopeful as she broke her soulmate out of her dark thoughts. Rosanna snorted at the demon's words.

"pah! You wish!, I'm still ticked that you used a joke like that."

She felt her injured hand twitch at the reignited frustration that flushed throughout her. Iris whined loudly pressing her face up against the soft comforter of the bed.

"Ah come on I forgot that Sierra had a thing against that kinda shit, you can't hold that against me!"

She whined weakly as she felt the other slip her hand out of her own.

"Yes I can hold that against you! And regardless that's not what I'm most frustrated with love."

Rosanna shot out rolling her eyes at her soulmates reaction.

"I'm more upset about how Sierra had a panic attack on live television."

She began calmly her voice cracking slightly she allowed a small bit of her anger loose into her words.

"I'm more pissed about how she is out there right now probably having to deal with it alone."

Her tone grew more frustrated and agitated as she went on.

"I'm more angry that you forgot how she hates being in a situation like that, how she hates being put out on blast like that in front of a crowd, Iris I love you but what the actual fuck were you thinking?!"

Her words grew harsh as she went on. Iris was silent, purple and red lined eyes watched the fallen angel nervously as she grew angrier and angrier as she spoke.

"I'm more pissed that it happened on live television! That every damn sector leader on this entire planet saw our close friend have a fucking panic attack and apparently start bleeding out of her mouth, nose and probably all of her other orifices on live goddamn television!"

Rosanna was shouting now, though not nearly as loud as iris knew the tan fallen angel could get. She watched her warily, preparing for when she would try to do something, the others bruised face was twisted into a look of annoyance.

"I'm more concerned and frustrated with trying to figure out what the hell exactly happened out there today!, what are we going to tell the other sector leaders when they eventually ask us?!"

Her voice cracked loudly as her face began to crumble into one of sharp fear and concern, her eye becoming watery as she spoke.

"What about Sierra?, what the hell was happening to her?!"

Her voice broke down into a short choppy sob before she inhaled sharply and forced herself to continue speaking, even as tears spilled from her uninjured eye and her closed up swollen black eye.

"What if she's out there dying?"

Her voice became quiet as she became overwhelmed with despair at the idea of the human lying weak and dying in an alleyway of a new unfamiliar alien planet.

"Don't say things like that!"

Iris rose her voice concern clear in her purple and red eyes.

"She's not dying, she can't be she-"

the demon stuttered with her words as she drew her now sobbing soulmate into her arms and hold her gently against her chest.

"She's a strong girl, she'll be okay I promise Rosanna. "

she petted the back of the others wavy hair while gently rocking the other back and forth in her arms. The same way that Sierra would whenever she was going through a panic attack, her hands clutched in her long ,always soft no matter what, dirty blonde hair. Panicked breaths filling the space around her as her mind would struggle to find a foothold to bring her back to reality instead of the over stimulated emotional mess she would always become during her panic attacks. How her hands would twitch randomly as she'd look around for something to help her calm down. Iris could remember those moments with the human crystal clear for some reason. Those moments where the humans sanity seemed to fray and tear just a bit, and she would seem to stare into a dark abyss that the two could never seem to understand why she was able to see it. She hummed softly to Rosanna while she held back her own burning tears.

"look before we know it she'll show up and she'll be perfectly fine and who knows"

the demon drew in a shaky breath before she went on.

"she'll probably be annoyed at me for making such a dumb joke about her, and we'll catch up on what's happened since we last were with each other."

Tears were streaming down Iris's cheeks now as she could feel her eyes burning from the lack of her blinking as she held Rosanna closer to her, guilt eating at her as she spoke.

"Fuck, I really fucked up didn't I?"

She asked in a tearful croak sobbing lightly as Rosanna nodded slightly in her hold.

"not one of your best moments but not your worst dear."

Rosanna said sniffing as she wiped away her tears with her uninjured hand. Iris sobbed louder before she buried her face onto the top of Rosanna hair, tear wetting the dark brown locks of wavy hair.

"Shh it's going to be alright"

Rosanna said guilt eating at her from her bout of yelling.

"We'll find her, and you'll apologize to her, and we'll be okay we always are aren't we?"

Iris nodded weakly at Rosanna's words.

"I shouldn't have done that"

she continued speaking into the others hair. Rosanna sniffed and wrapped her one arm around the others thin body and hugging her gently. If there had been other demon's or anyone else they would have been embarrassed at how much emotion they were showing to each other, if their were anyone else with them they would be but they were alone. Alone with just each other to support themselves, like it always had been for the two of them. Rosanna pulled away from iris looking up at the demons mournful face before she gave iris a watery smile.

"you shouldn't have but your not perfect, you didn't know she was there. No one knew she was there."

She went on speaking softly even as her voice came out hoarse and rough from her shouting earlier.

"You just need to say sorry to her, we need to say sorry to her. Together"

she finished watching iris give her a small watery smile nodding in agreement.

"Together"

she agreed as the two of them sat in silence simply holding onto each other and avoiding looking at the large giant prismatic flower covered trees that was visible from the two large windows in the room. They would relax for now, get their bearings while they could before they would deal with the outside world.

Slender was silent as he watched the holoscreen before him, hoodie one of his three proxy's stood beside him, his black cloth mask covering his face and silent as they both watched the scene play out before them again. Slender didn't realize when the small wine glass full of champagne from a new bottle that he had opened to celebrate the new sector leaders, had slipped from his weak hold and crashed onto the wooden floor underneath him. Nor did he move when he felt the sharp glass under his dress shoe when he rewinded the clip from the livestream. His blank pale white face smooth and emotionless as he watched the scene play out again before him. The dirty blonde haired girl a lux arbor flower stuck in her hair; Sierra he recalled, standing weakly surrounded by the large crowd of the people of sector 7. Her eyes glowing a vibrant near ethereal blue even as her eyes cried tears of blood, thick maroon colored blood leaking from her nose, mouth and ears visible. He struggled to swallow, his throat tight with emotion. His face creased in confusion and conflicting emotions as he took in the sight of the young woman as she moved in jerky movements. Her chest seemingly heaving as she sobbed out, he could feel something in the pit of his stomach twist violently at the sight and the sound of her crying. It reminded her of someone who was long gone. A close friend of his who had sacrificed everything in her life to bring the world around them to peace. His free hand gripped one of the arms of the chair of the arm chair he was sitting in. The leather creaking at the tight grip as he stared in bewilderment and horror at the sight of the you g woman on the screen. He didn't notice when hoodie gently slid up beside him and gently touched his limp hand that had once been holding the glass that was now lying broken on his office's floor.

"Sir?, are you alright?"

His proxy's words sounded far off as he struggled to focus away from the look of pure despair that was on the woman's face on the holoscreen.

"Pause"

he spoke up quietly watching the screen pause the clip of the livestream. The frozen image of when 'sierra' was getting carried away by the large Minerva her arm flung back and eyes a bright burning blue. The moment before the tree she made had burst through the ground.

"Sir?"

Hoodie spoke up again, gently shaking Slender's shoulder. The tall thin faceless being jolted at the motion snapping back to reality and looking at his proxy.

"Yes hoodie?"

His voice was silent as he spoke up, he felt numb, confused as to what he had just seen.

"Are you going to be alright?"

The sector leader was quiet at his proxy's concerned words. He was silent as he nodded still looking at the frozen holoscreen, he stood up and made his way closer to the screen taking the floating screen into his hands his fingers gently gripping the thin screen. The sounds of hoodie cleaning up his broken champagne glass ringing out behind him.

'I can't believe it'

he thought to himself as he took a closer look at the young woman on the screen, her long dirty blonde hair that was swept up from the wind, white skin sun kissed and reminding him of someone years ago who looked nearly like her. He glanced away from the screen and to one of the picture frames that were set up on his desk. The silver and gold lined frame that held the old centuries old picture of his close friend. He reached for it quietly not aware of hoodie stilling in his cleaning to watch the tall pale sector leader grab a hold of the photo frame. A stifling silence filling the room as slender looked at the photo. The slender bright blonde haired woman in the picture gave him a sense of sorrow that many on the planet who had known her personally could relate to.

"Serenity it seems like you've found your way back home"

he said quietly before looking back at the young woman who looked nearly identical to his old long gone friend. Hoodie stayed silent returning back to quickly finish cleaning the rest of the broken remains of glass. The masked proxy could only hope that his sector leader wouldn't keep looking back at the past when the woman from the livestream finally came forward.

Grand was a towering giant of a troll, and the current grand high blood of the mirthful faithful that was stationed in connection. He had lived for centuries and still was going strong in his stride even though he had gained a bit of a foreboding ever present cough that wouldn't leave him even if he wanted it to go. Decades of smoking and poor life choices had weakened his lungs slightly though he hardly cared anymore about that. He was more focused on watching the livestream that was playing on the holoscreen of the main hall of the church. Dozens of faithful stood around him unafraid to come closer beside him to get a better look of the screen and the history that was unfolding before them. He couldn't help but chuckle when a younger repsies slid up beside him on his left side, their facepaint messy and smudged from their untrained hands. They were still too young for their mask from what he could tell from the repsies's small stature.

"Grand highblood what's going on I can't see the screen."

The young repsies asked tugging gently on the tall indigo blood's tie dyed tunic that he had chosen to wear that day. It was a day of goodwill and fortune after all, he chuckled gently at the young repsies before he knelt down and helped the repsies onto his broad left shoulder.

"There we go Lil sib"

he said sighing as the small repsies relaxed on his shoulder, one of their thin furred arms wrapping around one of his tall twisting horns. Grand couldn't help but sigh in slight annoyance at the way the new sector leader spoke cheerfully as if they were a pop star instead of a new political figure. He held back on rolling his eyes as she went on speaking her speech that the grand high blood only paid half a mind to. He had seen dozens of these ceremonies in his life on connection. He had been there when this part of the planet had just been mostly wild and untamed wilderness instead of the more rural small towns and city that their were nowadays. He along with several others helped the young magi known as serenity build up the way the government would work for them. They may have had several bumps along the way but it was more than worth it for the peaceful and warless world they had now, At least mostly warless. Grand watched the holoscreen halfheartedly while he thought about the celebration party he and several other faithful would be working on later tonight. The tall indigo blooded ancestor was snapped from his thoughts when a familiar voice called out to him.

"Grand!, there you are!"

He groaned softly at the voice of a close friend of his.

"Signless, nice seeing you here."

He said as he glanced away from the screen briefly to catch the sight of the shorter red blooded troll. Centuries he wouldn't have dared to call the troll a friend rather call him for what he thought the troll was at the time, a mutant, a heretic. Though that had been before the timeline split for them, before serenity had come to alternia and made an offer to them. An offer of peace and no hardships, something that they had disagreed with at first before she told them what she had seen ahead for their world if they stayed. About the game their desendents would play that would bring forth the end of the world, At least on their end it would.

"Same to you grand, you don't look a day over a hundred sweeps."

The red blooded troll joked a small smirk on his dark grey face as he walked up next to him. Signless was wearing a bright red and black dress shirt, something the high blood suspected that his matesprit probably convinced the troll to wear.

"Same to you though it's odd seeing a motherfucker like you around the church."

He said back chuckling as he spoke. Signless rolled his red and yellow eyes at him before he looked up at the screen before them.

"What do you think of the new sector leaders?"

He asked watching as the tall thin tan skinned woman winked at the camera and went on about someone they were looking for. Grand shrugged chuckling when the small repsies on his shoulder giggled loudly at the movement and tightened their hold on his horn a small bit making the tall indigo blooded troll chuckle louder. Signless glanced up at the small repsies that was currently sitting on grands shoulder, small beady bright blue green eyes watched the screen before glancing down at him and offering a wide toothy smile and a small wave before they returned their focus onto the screen, their tall fox like ears trained forward. Signless couldn't help but smile at the sight of the young male repsies, there had been a time when grand wouldn't have dreamt of allowing the species into the faith. They both really had changed so much since they first came to connection.

"I think the fallen angel one has a good head on her shoulder."

Grand answered breaking the other from their thoughts. Signless nodded in agreement,

"agreed, the other seems to be a bit more out of it than her partner leader"

he said lifting up and arm and gesturing toward the screen. The two trolls hardly paying any attention to the screen when the young repsies sitting on grands shoulder spoke up.

"Hey that lady looks like sister serenity!"

The two stiffened up and looked up at the screen taking in the image that was plastered onto the stage's screen.

"Sweet messiahs"

grand muttered quietly as several of the faithful around him began talking in confusion at the sight of the dirty blonde on the screen who looked far to close to one of the fallen faithful from centuries ago.

"Oh my, s-she does look just like serenity...."

Signless whispered quietly as he brought a hand to his mouth in confusion at the sight of the woman's picture.

"Someone send out a scout to the capital building!"

Grand shouted to some of the nearby faithful around him, several of them nodding numbly as they quickly broke into action breaking from the main hall and deeper into the church.

"Grand...do you think that she's?"

"I don't motherfucking know Signless"

grand groaned out watching the holoscreen tensely for, ears trained for any information that the purple eyed demon on the screen could possibly provide about the woman.

"But I do know that she's a missing woman and that she's important to the new sector leaders and I'm going to get as much damn info as I can before jumping to conclusions about her."

He said tensely, one of his hands reaching up and gently rubbing the back of the small repsies on his shoulder who had started to look at the screen with wide and worried eyes.

"And if she is who I think she is?"

The red blood began eyes glancing up at the taller, taking in the sight of his tense form and eyes that were looking at the screen with an intensity that he hadn't seen on the troll since the last of the ancients passed.

"Then, Signless, we do what serenity and the other two ancients asked of us to do."

He breathed out from his nose before he went on.

"We help them in anyway we can."

He finished glancing quickly at Signless before returning his gaze to the screen.

"We help them"

he repeated again hollowly as he watched the scene before him. Covering the young repsies as best he could when the screaming began on the screen.

Signless and him, along with the rest of the church watched the event unfold before them as grand pressed the young repsies's face into his chest their ears pressed flat against their head as his small form shook with frightened sobs. Grand was frozen when he and Signless took in the sight of the woman known as Sierra showed up on the screen. Bodies stiff and numb as she was broadcasted on live television worldwide without realization.

'She's a magi'

he thought woodenly as he saw her face, bright glowing blue eyes a small window to what uncontrollable magic was coursing through her small body.

'At least small for a magi'

he thought bitterly as the livestream went on. It felt as if the stream was going on for far longer than he and many others would have liked. They all watched wide eyed when she and her Minerva began to run off, when her arm flung out causing the giant tree to erupt from the ground and grand glanced quickly at one of the many large windows that were at the churches entrance to take in the sight of the tree growing outside. The church was only two blocks away from the capital building but the sheer size of the tree was obvious even from his spot. A shiver of rare fear went down his back as he returned his gaze to the holoscreen when the purple eyed demon sector leader grabbed onto one of the cameras and spoke into it.

"I Uh apologize for the less then pleasant turn of events everyone but I promise when my partner sector leader is recovered we will make an announcement live to apologize fully for what has happened today."

She spoke quickly her eyes constantly glancing back to the direction the Minerva had gone.

"Uh have a good day everyone!"

Her voice cracked loudly at the end of her words before the livestream finally stopped. Leaving everyone in the church staring at the blank holoscreen before a screen popped on of the classic 'sorry we are currently experiencing technical difficulties' several of the faithful around him glanced to him before he carefully placed the young repsies that was in his arms down onto the floor before he patted his small head.

"you alright their little sib?"

He asked him gently as they repsies lifted their head, blue green eyes wide and watery makeup smearing slightly from his tears.

"Mhm"

they nodded sniffing before wiping at their eyes smudging their makeup more. He frowned softly at the sight before he gently spoke up again.

"Alright little sib you go on to your parents, get your face cleaned up a bit okay?"

Again they nodded before quickly rushing off into the crowd towards a couple made up of a blue blooded troll woman and a pale yellow furred rabbit monster man. They held their son in their arms looking to grand with a look of worry. He straightened up Signless standing beside him.

"grand what should you tell them?"

The red blood asked in a whisper, eyes soft as the crowd looked to them for answers and words of comfort after the shocking live-streamed ceremony.

"I'll tell them what they need to hear from me"

he sighed out from his nose before he spoke again.

"I'm the grand highblood after all."

He finished before he turned to his brothers and sisters of the faith and began to try to soother their concerns and fears. He and Signless could only pray for a miracle that what was happening would lead to a bright future that many had looked forward to.

Sierra rested against Koukai with Taff, Dagian, and Tobias as they waited for Agacie to began telling the story of the ancients. She could fill her body shivering as nervous energy filled her body, she could feel herself become anxious as the the large white and light pink furred repsies sat cross legged before them before she pulled off her mask from her face to show her bare face. The hybrid could feel the other three stiffen slightly at the sight before they relaxed, but she had the innate feeling that the action alone spoke more words than she could understand but she chose to keep her mouth shut tightly as she watched Agacie cleared her throat and stared straight into sierra's eyes with a look of determination and patience.

"Do you Sierra truly wish to listen to the story of the ancients?"

Sierra nodded but opened her mouth quickly.

"I do"

she spoke determined to learn more about the topic.

'No one said that history was ever easy to hear'

she thought to herself as Agacie nodded in seemingly approving of sierra's answer.

"Very well, I will take part as story teller than for you, sit back and listen to the very story that is widespread and known worldwide all over connection of the rise and fall of the very three first sector leaders and how connection as we know first came into existence."

She spoke clearly and professionally before she quickly racked on at the end.

"Oh also if you got any questions dear you can ask them after I'm done telling the story, it's a bit of a manners thing to not interrupt someone who is telling a longer story like this one."

Sierra nodded her head quickly sitting cross legged as Agacie began to tell the story of the ancients and Sierra watched on in wide eyed wonder.

Over 600 years ago, hundreds of centuries after the great flood and back when magi's made up most of the population of old connection. A set of twin magi girls were born, one a spirt and air magi, and the other a pure nature magi. The two were the daughters to one of the stronger royal families that lived on the island of kindness. The parents of the girls named the spirt and air magi entropy while the pure nature magi was named serenity. The two sisters grew together for years growing their powers over their chosen elements. Entropy learning how to have visions of the future and control the air and fly at quick speeds, while serenity learned to tame animals and control the plant life around her. The two's family always seemed to favor serenity more over her sister as she was a pure elemental magi which was a very rare thing to see back then. Her family was known for being made up mostly of earth elemental magi's and they hardly ever had anyone in the family who weren't able to control the nature element to some extent. Though this did not stop the two sisters from being close with one another. Entropy going to serenity and telling her about the many visions of the future she would have in her dreams that would come true days or even years later. While serenity seeked adventure and to be free of the strict rules their family seemed to place upon the two girls. They were happy though, even as they grew older and became more and more aware of the corruption around them. The slavery of many other races, the required death they were expected to go through when they turned 100 years old. Entropy disliked this way of life but serenity, serenity despised their way of life. She hated how she would walk in the town market with her sister and watch people who were enslaved be sold to others as if they were nothing but animals and property. She hated having a due date hanging over her head even as she refused to allow herself to die at so young an age for a magi. Not when she could easily see her sister and her living a long and fulfilling life beyond the 100 year mark. But there was nothing the young magi could do to change her world so she and entropy waited patiently thinking up many a plan for the perfect time to begin changing their lives for the better.

When the two reached their 16th birthday entropy told serenity about her latest vision of her sister leading a revolution to a land that they could be free and without prejudice. Serenity asked for the first steps to take to go down this path and entropy told her that she would have to go to the slave market and purchase a set of twin daemons boys. Serenity hesitant to do such a thing weakly agreed but swore that she would allow the two boys to be their own person's despite her knowing about the anger her family would show if she did such a thing. Regardless serenity went and purchased the twin daemons that were born during an eclipse, and despite the slave traders opposition she would not change her mind. She took the two young thirteen year old daemons that were skinny from lack of food and their tails hacked off to show they were nothing but slaves and eyes wide and fearful as she gently smiled at them and told them that she would take them away from the awful future that had been set out previously for them and that she would allow them to live the lives that they would truly deserve.

"Who are you?"

Asked the twin with glowing indigo eyes while he held his fearful brother closely.

"Serenity and I want to take you away from here."

The two twins accepted her offer to help them live a life of their own choosing. As they left the slave market that day they began the first steps of their new lives with serenity. Their names were solar and lunar, brothers that would later become connection's very first general and scholar of the future leader.

Years passed and serenity and entropy taught the two all they would ever need, lunar chose you learn about history and the reading and writing as well as began to record as history began to unfold before them all. While solar learned about past war and different fighting techniques and began to perfect each and every one of them. During this time serenity began to learn how to use the elements of spirit and air from entropy who taught them the best she could to her sister. Eventually serenity learned how to use the two elements and quickly became very talented at the three elements she had some control over. When their 20th birthday arrived serenity was offered up as a wife to her uncle despite her immense displeasure at the suggestion, her family believed if she had a child with her uncle she would help bring more children that would be pure nature elementals. She was forced to accept her uncles hand in marriage despite her disgust for it. After the night she had been married to her uncle she ran to her sister, lunar, and solar who comforted her as best as they could. The twins now 17 hated seeing the one who saved them from a life of enslavement and vowed to serve alongside her for as long as they could. Entropy saddened by her sisters sorrow for her situation and her life told her that she should take control of her life despite their families beliefs. Entropy told her sister about her latest vision, a vision of the future that they had always dreamed of. A vision of a world that three five elemental magis would lead with a fair and true hand. A world that would treat everyone as equals, no matter their species, color, gender nor what gender they preferred to fall in love with. They would live in a world of their own making and they would thrive there. Serenity moved by her sisters words asked for her to help her guide down that path of life. Entropy agreed and the group of four began their search for the two other magi's that the deer had seen in her vision.

Serenity first found wrath, a pure fire elemental magi with a temper that was short and a wish to leave the world that had been build around him. He was as fiery as his favored element when serenity came to him at a grand ball his family hosted once a year to show what grand weapons they created and the new battle tactics they had come up with that could help in any war. Wrath was annoyed with serenity and her sister's vision at first before he eventually agreed to join in their cause. Serenity grateful began to teach him how to control the three elements she knew to use while he taught her how to use the many gifts of the fire element. Many years passed, serenity managed to avoid having a child with her uncle many times as time went on. When serenity and entropy became 35 did serenity finally master the element of fire and began to search for the final magi that would help them in their cause. In between her normal life and the double life she lead she also began to preach her ideals to those who cared to listen to her. Slaves and those poorer heard her cry for freedom and retribution and helped her in the cause.

When serenity found patience she was 38 and found the last magi for their cause in a simple bookstore that her family owned. Patience was a paranoid filled water, spirit, and air magi that got frightened easily and worried over many things that would happen in the future along with being able to communicate with hundreds of spirits that would flood her mind about the world beyond the living. Patience was at first frightened by serenity's bold words, even going as far as to run whenever she caught sight of her for the next two months before patience eventually gained enough bravery to approach serenity and ask about her cause. Serenity told her about how they didn't have to live in a world that treated those who weren't a magi like lower than them. How they could instead build a world of their own making and how they could live how they truly wanted to. Patience hesitantly agreed and quickly became close friends with serenity and wrath and their cause grew tenfold. Years passed and serenity, earth and patience all learned each others element and became five elemental magi's. Masters of all five of the elements and able to create new forms and species with their magic. They all agreed to not use this ability until they finally reached the land that would become their new world for their cause.

When entropy and serenity became 55 their cause took to the streets, the four magi's and two daemons at the helm revealing their once hidden identities to the public. Serenity heavy with a child from her now severed marriage with her uncle preached of how she would lead all of those who wanted to follow her to a new way of life that would allow them to not have a fixed death day, how there would be no slavery, how everyone would be equal despite physical differences and how they could live without free of prejudice. The council sent dozens of guards after the group of six revolutionary leaders. Unaware of the three five elemental magi's that three of them were. Entropy sadly was captured and in her attempt to escape from the council men was murdered much to the great pain to serenity. After many of their group hid away serenity chose to willingly confront the council that led and controlled every royal family in all of old connection. She was brought before them, and they sentenced to banishment, but she spoke up before them.

"If you banish me and me alone my followers will remain here and cause you many a problem in the future."

The council weakly agreed and asked her what she suggested they do instead.

"Give me and my followers 100 ships and enough food to last us for five years, and we will all willingly leave the islands and never return."

The council was not satisfied with this answer and asked.

"what if your future generations if you all somehow manage to survive out in the world beyond, try to come back and try to force us to change our way of life."

Serenity frowned at their words and promised to them that the future generations of her followers children would never try to come back to the islands, that the only ones for them to except to come back would be her and the other magi's descendants.

"They will come back and bring forth judgement upon your way of life if you do not change for the better, this I swear as my sister has told me so in one of her many visions!"

The council was silent as she told them this, before they agreed and allowed her and her followers to gather all of those who would hear their way of life in a months time. She agreed, and they allowed her and her followers to leave. Serenity, wrath, patience, lunar and solar went from island to island preaching their way of life to help gather them to join their cause, and when the one month of preparation was over the council provided what serenity had asked for. 100 ships and more than enough food that would last them for nearly half a decade. They gathered all of their followers and those who wished to join them and began to board their ships. Serenity bid farewell to her family and her old life as she led the large fleet towards their new life.

They crossed the ocean for six months straight until they finally landed onto the beach's of the very first sector of new connection. Serenity with her first child, patience heavy with her first, and wrath a father to a daughter and a son. Serenity began the moment her feet touched the soft soil of the land of the sector, her new life and her along with all of her followers, lunar and solar, patience, wrath began to build the very structure of their new society. Many years passed and the followers began to develop their way of life more. Serenity, patience, and wrath began to develop their laws and how they would lead, they discovered new worlds through dozens of portals that would come and go. They made alliances with the trolls from alternia, and from the land around them. They befriended monsters from a land where they were freed from a mountain, they even struck up a new deal with the irkens that would come to the planet occasionally to trade their defective irken smeets for new tech, war plans, and baked goods that the people of connection found a hidden talent for making. The land of connection grew over the next two hundred years and with it serenity, patience, wrath grew along with it too. They and the many magi followers of theirs became the first magi's in over a 2000 years to live beyond one hundred. They thrived in their new way of life, new sectors were established, sector leaders and their own council that would meet up once a month to converse about what more they needed to do to help their home. Lunar and solar stayed loyal and true to serenity even as she and patience fell in love with one another and began to grow a small family of their own. Eventually Serenity felt the calm that had been between the sector leaders start to fray when the sector four leader began to grow greedy for more territory for his sector. He demanded at the latest council meeting for more land for his sector as his people could not live comfortably in their large sector. Serenity and the other sector leaders argued with him and told him that his sector was the largest in the planet but the leader of the elves was unsatisfied and swore revenge on the very same three magi's that had freed him from a life of slavery. Serenity took his words to heart and began to develop a spell and potion that would allow the three magi's to reincarnate for as long as their was life in the universe. Along with this she created a potion that would allow their scholars and knights to be reborn several times over. Patience and wrath were hesitant but trusted their close friend and took part of the potion and spell, each sector leader's scholar and knight took part of the potion and spell as well as they wished to forever serve their sector leaders for the rest of eternity despite whatever may come their way.

After this the three sent their children now young adults to go to a planet known as earth to live their in safety until the time that their reincarnations came to unite the two worlds together like the three had done for some many worlds before. Soon after the three began to tell those closest to them about what was to happen, the three magi's were going to die at the hands of three elf assassins and there was no avoiding it for if they did a war would surely break across their world. Hundred of magi's went into hiding underground fearful for their lives though many chose to stay with their family despite the risk. When the first fell to their assassin the world of connection mourned for the loss of sector leader wrath, he had died from an exhausting battle against his assassin before she finally landed the fatal blow against him. Patience was the next to fall, her mind distressed and paranoid that she hadn't realized when she drank tea that had been poisoned by an elf who had been loyal to her for many years but had been convinced to murder his own sector leader. The other sector leaders looked to Serenity in worry, fearful for when she too would fall to an untimely death. A month passed and even then Serenity was preparing for her eventual death, along with a set of six journals that held all of her thoughts and secrets along with many spells, potions and her methods of how she learned to master all five elements, and how to teach one to do the same they also held entries from her life and how she was back then.

The day that her assassin came for her was a sad one, an entire fleet of 12 elven soldiers came to her sector and challenged her before the small few who were left in her sector, where thousands had once lived months before. She agreed to their challenge and ordered lunar and solar to take the few citizens left and to come back in a week for her body. They hesitantly agreed and followed her order, solar argued though as he felt that he should be there to help assist his leader as her knight. Serenity refused his wish and ordered him to go with his brother and her sector's people. The knight saddened by her order agreed and left with the rest of the group before serenity began to fight the elves who came for her life. She fought for seven days and seven nights, not stopping to rest nor eat or drink. She was going to fight them with all she had before they would ever make her take her last breath. On the dawn of the eighth day did she collapse finally from exhaustion in a meadow of wildflowers with the wounded fleet of tired and guilt ridden elves. The leader of the fleet came forward to the fatigued magi who fell onto her back and looked up at him with tired eyes. The elf knight known as Alexander rose his sword but hesitated to make the final strike.

"I don't wish to give you such a terrible ending like this"

he mourned aloud to her, his hands shaking as he held the blade ready to plunge it deep into her chest. Serenity was said to give him a warm smile and grabbed at the blade of his sword and brought it closer to her chest before she spoke her final words.

"Please give me a leaders death, I have lived for three centuries and have seen many come and go. I know when my time has come dear, now please plunge your blade into my and let your leader see the consequences for his greed."

Alexander moved by her words rose his sword and plunged it deep into the final ancients chest. Her eyes warm even as the life melted away from them, her face still an expression of forgiveness and peace. Her golden hair almost looking like a bed of spun gold underneath her. Alexander ridden by the guilt of his action fell to his knees and screamed to the heavens, wishing he hadn't been so loyal to his sector. Unbeknownst to the small fleet solar the knight who had rushed back to help his leader watched the death of his secret love of his life. Driven by mourning the daemon knight ran off carrying two of the six journals that serenity had written, to a far off cave where in his grieving began to destroy the inside of the cave unaware of the unstable ceiling above him. Soon the ceiling above caved in on the poor grieving knight who was mourning his loves death. As solar died he made sure to drink the potion that would allow him to have his body reborn in mind, body and sprit. Lunar searched for his twin brother but only found his crushed body, before he went to where serenity's body laid silently mourning as he brought her body to the people of connection to receive a proper burial. The land of the first three sectors dying and withering away with every step he took. That is how the three first sector leaders helped birth the world of connection as we know it and how they all died for the world they built. Three sector leaders of the highest caliber, became known as the ancients to forever be remembered for their sacrifices to build a world where we all can truly call home to all born here and those beyond.

"And that is the story as we know so far, albeit with some unnecessary parts of it cut out so we aren't all sitting here for the entire day"

Agacie finished clearing her throat and pulling her mask back on over her furred face

"any questions?"

She asked quickly as Sierra sat back wide eyed at the long story she had listened to enraptured with it.

"No...but holy hell that was pretty damn good"

she said, the other three agreeing with her.

"Yeah wasn't too bad for a slightly shortened version of the story"

Taff spoke up her pale yellow eyes glinting in the afternoon sunlight, a tired and warm smile on her face.

"Oh! T-thank you, I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to tell the story that well like the storytellers during the festivals but I'm glad that you all enjoyed it nonetheless."

Agacie thanked them all warmly her long cotton candy pink tail swaying back and forth all the while. Sierra couldn't help but smile with them all, relieved that the story wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Though a nagging feeling niggled at the back of her mind. Something about the story of serenity and the other founders of the world's way of life are at her. It felt familiar and hit close to home in way or another, almost as if she herself had been there to witness the moment or something close to that. There was the motives behind serenity's revolution that she swore she had thought about before herself, how back on earth during the days that felt like they were dragging on for years instead of twenty four hours, how she would day dream of breaking the boring routine and escaping beyond what was expected of her. Of living off of the land with those closest to her, about carving out a place she could call home. Someplace that she could call her own, where she could live how she wanted to, a place that would be warm and welcoming. Sierra could relate and sympathize with serenity's reason for leading a revolution, the hybrid could even relate to her death. If she was given the choice to die for those she loved along with hundreds of innocent lives who were unknowingly depending on her, she would allow herself to be killed so that others would be able to live in a better future. Thought she could also relate more so because of the way the magi had died.

'impaled through the chest'

she thought bringing her right hand up to the center of her chest. Her hand settling in-between her breasts and pressing against the bit of chest that she always felt off about. Like something should be jutting out and she should be laying down. She shivered at the thought, pulling her hand away unaware that Taff was watching her quietly while Tobias and Dagian were conversing with Agacie about her talent for storytelling. The irken watched the confused and lost look on Sierra's pale face, her antenna pressed flat against her head as she stared. Taffeta watched the unknowing magi hybrid think about something that was closer to her than she realized. Taff could only watch on as she saw the glint of something undistinguishable shine in the hybrids eyes as she stared at her right hand as if she was seeing something the rest of them couldn't comprehend. In that moment the irken felt a jolt of fear go through her body before she looked away to where Monica and Taz still sat in one of the alleyways talking quietly to one another.

'Ancients help them'

she thought shaking her head at the sight of Taz speaking to the elf magi hybrid. Taff could only hope that her close friend wouldn't get her heart crushed when Monica would eventually break it.


	18. Chapter 17: squad goals

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sierra, koukai and monica's group go and help her get more adjusted to life on connection. which apparently includes Taz hacking into one of sector 7's two Ai and registering sierra up and getting her an ID, then proceeding to get the new hybrid a new hairdo. meanwhile varies vent's to a close friend of her's about her mistake of holding information from sierra.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the long wait since the last update, i got really busy with work and other stuff, and i got a case of writer's block for a while but thankfully i got this chapter out in time for christmas (merry christmas y'all! ^-^) so i hope you all will love this chapter! ^-^

"So I was thinking we could just y'know show her around the city if that's cool with you?"

Taz went on energetically to Monica who sat beside her on the wooden bench that was in the alleyway. Something that was common place on connection to help make the darker parts of the planet look more friendly. The elf hybrid shrugged at the others suggestion, an uncaring look on her face as she spoke.

"I mean if you all want to go and do that fine by me, I'll join up with y'all later then."

She replied quickly struggling to not wince at how harsh she sounded. Taz frowned slightly at her words, antenna drooping slightly before she spoke up again gently a soft smile on her face.

"You know it's not your fault that your great grandfather killed serenity"

Taz said softly pale purple eyes watching the elf hybrid carefully. Monica stiffened slightly before relaxing against the back of the bench, a soft sigh passing from her lips.

"I know, i just...."

her four forest green eyes creased in frustration as she spoke. She sighed again defeated by the lack of words that came to her when talking about the topic.

"I wish I wasn't related to someone so controversial y'know?"

She looked to Taz her eyes filled with a lost look. Taz nodded a sad smile on her face before she spoke up.

"yeah I know the feeling..., I mean I am related to an entire species that is known for invading other planets and enslaving the inhabitants of said planets."

Taz said eyes looking down at her black gloved hands. Gloves she chose to wear to avoid looking at her pale green skin.

"Yeah well that's not your fault your related to them!, your nothing like those irkens, You and Taff both!"

Monica spoke up quickly to comfort the irken.

"Your so much better than them. You don't have to rely on the tallest there, or listen to the control brains or anything like that! You're your own person and no one can tell you what to do."

She went on placing one of her pale white hands onto one of taz's shoulders making the irken look up at her with wide eyes and her green face darkening slightly as she took in the words Monica said.

"Uh"

the elf hybrid pulled her hand away quickly when she realized what she had done.

"S-sorry I I didn't mean to do that"

she stammered looking away from Taz, forest green eyes looking anywhere but where the irken sat stars in her eyes. Taz snorted at the brunette's words before she gently took a hold of the same hand that had been on her shoulder mere seconds ago.

"Hey"

she began gently, looking up at the other a warm smile on her face.

"It's okay, and just because your related to someone who did something bad."

Monica glanced briefly at Taz, listening to the others words.

"Doesn't mean that you yourself are bad."

Taz said pouring as much warmth and kindness into her words as she could. Monica smiled down at the smaller before she gently brought the other into a tight hug. The elf hybrid was never really one for physical affection but she felt comfortable with taz, the two after all had known each other for nearly two decades.

"Thank you tazzy"

she whispered softly to the irken who seemingly melted into the hug.

"N-no problem M-monica, glad to h-help cheer a friend up."

She stuttered out as Monica released her hold of Taz, the irken feeling loopy from the adrenaline coursing through her body. She may have known the elf hybrid for a good twenty years but she still couldn't help the pain that struck through her heart whenever she forced herself to ignore her true feelings for the brunette.

"Hey! If you two are finished having your romcom moment Agacie is done telling Sierra the story of the ancients."

The tired voice of Taff spoke up from the entrance of the alleyway making the two jolt and hold onto each other in surprise.

"Cuz!"

Taz shouted excitedly when she caught sight of the taller irken. Monica's held back a grimace at the annoyed look Taff sent her way as she let go of Taz and watched the irken bolt towards her 'cousin' much to her annoyance.

"Oh hey Taff, didn't hear you coming"

she said looking away and standing up from the bench.

"Uh Huh, well if you two are done the gang is thinking we could go and help Sierra get ahold of a ID and get her registered into the sectors database if you want in."

Taff explained jerking her head towards where the rest of the group stood with Sierra and her Minerva koukai, seemingly talking about something that got the dirty blonde excited.

"Oooooh! I was just talking about doing that to Monica!"

Taz spoke up excitedly beside Taff where she wrapped her arms around the other irkens waist in a tight hug.

"You don't say? Well Monica?"

Taff rose one of her antenna like a eyebrow,

"wanna join us?"

Monica stiffened up but shrugged attempting to look uncaring.

"yeah sure why the hell not?, who knows maybe Taz will show Sierra her little hacking trick at one of the registration stations?"

She finished a small mischievous smile on her face as she spoke. Taz jumped up and down in mischievous joy.

"oh my gosh yeah!, I can even test my new prototype on it too!"

The two stiffened up at the shorter irken's words.

"New... prototype?"

"oh dear gods"

Monica and Taff said at the same time looks of immediate fear and worry crossing over their faces as they stared at the smaller. Taz smiled widely nodding her head eagerly.

"yeah new prototype!, I've been working on a new lil hackbot after my last one kinda.... blew up?"

She shrugged sheepishly her smile weakening as she spoke. Taff rubbed at her face, the dark circles under her eyes becoming more pronounced as she spoke up.

"Taz, I thought you told me that someone accidentally stepped on your hackbot?"

Taff said her pale yellow eyes narrowing in confusion.

"Yeah...I thought so to"

Monica agreed her four eyes looking at the smaller irken befuddled at the news, trying to ignore the oncoming sense of dread she felt at the news. Taz laughed nervously looking away from the two's hard stare's as she began to explain herself

"I thought so too but turns out it was just outta battery life and well when I fixed it up a bit at home it may or may not have blown up just a small bit?"

Taff and Monica's eyes widened at the news Taff immediately opening her mouth to speak before Taz quickly went on.

"But it's okay! I'm okay!, no one was around when it happened so it's alright."

"Cuz what the actual fuck?"

Taff said tiredly rubbing at her face as Monica just stared on in utter disbelief and barely hidden horror.

"What? I'm okay, and this new hackbot 3.0 will definitely not exploded in anyway shape or form!"

The small irken exclaimed excitedly pulling out a small metallic ball that looked to be roughly the same size as a tennis ball. Thin lines of yellow and light purple crossed over its surface as she held the small deactivated robot in her hand.

"Please don't say that...."

Taff groaned both hands covering her face now as she feared her adopted family member would jynx herself.

"Oh gods"

Monica whispered quietly eying the small robot with concern and barely restrained fear for their safety.

"Oh relax you two!, I the amazing Taz promise that absolutely nothing and I mean nothing! Could happen today involving hackbot 3.0!"

The two watched her swear holding the small robot a look of pride and excitement on her face. The two shared a look, they prayed to the ancients that Taz wouldn't get chased off by the guards around the registration center again like last time. 'Gods help us, if she does' Taff groaned internally as she watched her cousin go on proudly about the many updates she had made to the robot.

Sierra smiled warmly as the group led her towards where Taff had mentioned she could go to register as a citizen of connection. The yellow eyed irken had told her that if any issues came up when she tried to register, mostly involving her being on the missing persons list that Taz could help with 'convincing' the program. The hybrid was confused at her choice of words and the look of tired regret on her face as she looked towards Taz who was going on about a prototype or something. Sierra couldn't really tell at this point, her mind felt numb and off touch with everything after the story that Agacie had told her. She couldn't place why she felt like she had heard that story from somewhere before but she tried to shrug the sense of unease away even as she began to feel the tale tell signs of an on coming dissociative episode. She felt off and as if she was floating out of her body in a way. She grimaced at the feeling and petted the top of koukai's head as they walked away from the park and into the streets of the city. The group stood around her, as if to block anyone else from seeing her. The hybrid at the thought shivered slightly at remembering that she was probably being searched for after the events of the livestream. She glanced behind them towards where she could still clearly see the giant towering tree she had made during her slight panic attack earlier. The sight of it still made her uneasy, something about it struck a cord in her. The way the leaves even from where she stood looked vibrant and healthy as if they took the energy from her own body and converted it into something that was just under the surface of the trees bark.

"Looking at your tree?"

She jolted at the sound of Monica's voice. Looking to her right where the elf hybrid walked beside her, two sets of forest green eyes stared back at her own blue green hazel ones.

"Uh, y-yeah"

she stuttered stumbling over her words as she grew nervous under the intense stare Monica was giving her. Her hands petted the top of koukai's head again in a repetitive circular motion. The elf hybrid relaxed beside her before her top pair of eyes glanced towards the tree before she spoke up again.

"It must be jarring for you."

"Huh?"

Sierra questioned her words confused what the brunette meant.

"I mean from what I can get you act like you've never done anything with magic before right?"

The elf hybrid asked all four eyes looking at Sierra's form, taking in the barely restrained tenseness that was in the dirty blondes body. How her blue green eyes seemed to look at her with the look of a lost child.

"Oh!, y-yeah I'm from earth...so magic wasn't really a thing many believed in"

she explained rubbing at the back of her neck with her left hand, her right hand still rubbing the top of her Minerva's head. Monica snorted at her words before she spoke again.

"there's magic in everything, some planets just choose to avoid looking at it."

Sierra squinted in confusion at her words.

"I don't follow?"

"I meant that it's believed that magic of all kind is on every planet and dimension regardless of what the inhabitants of said places believe."

Sierra blinked owlishly at the elf hybrids words but understood what she meant.

"Oh! So some places just decide to not believe in it? While others believe in it more than others?"

Monica shrugged at her words,

"something like that, magic is complicated. Much more than anyone would like to think. It's like a part of nature or something like that."

Sierra nodded relaxing at her words. It made sense to her, it reminded her of a physics lesson she learned back in middle school.

'Energy can neither be created nor destroyed'

she could see what Monica meant now, magic was more like pure energy but more refined to the point of creating life or things close to that. She looked back at the tree she made again, a sense of understanding filling her as she smiled at the sight of it now. She understood somewhat how she made it grow. She smiled softly at the sight, unknowing of her eyes that glowed slightly. Calm blue magic shining in her eyes as she looked at the tree she had helped grow.

Half and hour later they made it to the registration area, Taz running off excitedly towards the small domed shaped buildings that stood in the center of a small clearing of concrete. Several dozens of people were around the area coming in and out of the many small stores and restaurants that surrounded the area. The sight alone reminded Sierra of the front area of a zoo, where the ticket booth was in the center and surrounded by stores of all kinds. The thought alone had her making a small smile, the school trips to the zoo had been one of her favorite memories when had been younger. Faint memories of looking at the tigers and exotic birds gave her a sense of nostalgia. She was quick to follow after Taz, the others close behind. She and koukai slipped into the small white dome shaped building, the shape reminding her of an egg or a smooth stone. Her eyes wide as she took in the inside of the building; several atm shaped machines lined the smooth walls of the building. She looked closer at one of the machines and looked on confused at the sight of what looked like a 3D animated woman would appear on the small screen of it from time to time; waving and winking before words would come up onto the beside her. The bright blue 'welcome' reminded her distantly of the airport screen's that would welcome people to wherever they had landed at.

'Huh I guess that's a bit of a universal thing?'

She thought as koukai grabbed onto her hand with his mouth and gently led her towards where Taz was kneeling on the brick floor and attaching what looked like a metal tennis ball onto the front of the machine.

"There we go!"

The irken said smiling widely as the item made a loud clicking sound and began to spin about still attached to the machine before four thin spider-like metal legs came out from its sides and seemed to slip through the near invisible cracks and crevices of the machines front. Several lights blinking all over the small robot Taz had placed on and it's spider legs seemed to be working inside the larger machine before a loud series of clicks and beeps came from the large machine it's screen going blue before seemingly turning off.

"Uh, what exactly are you doing?"

Sierra asked confused, Taz glanced at her winking before tapping at the small keyboard of the larger machine then as if by magic it's screen turned back on the same image of the 3D animated woman appearing also her with the welcome beside her. Sierra could only watch on in awe as Taz silently worked at the machine, fingers flying wildly across the small keyboard again before the machine and the smaller attached to it made a loud click followed by a small musical ping. Sierra glanced down at the small robot again watching it slip it's spider legs from the depths of the larger machine before it detached itself from it and crawled up onto taz's leg till it slipped onto her shoulder making a small beep when it finally stopped.

"And done!"

Taz exclaimed as she loudly tapped the last few buttons on the machine.

"Um, what exactly just happened?"

Sierra asked again thoroughly confused at the others actions.

"Only the best hacker at work! That's what!"

The purple eyed irken exclaimed before she gently grabbed at the small robot on her shoulder before bringing it up to her face and smiled widely at it.

"ain't that right hackbot 3.0?, yes it is oh yes it is!"

She cooed at the small robot scratching at the top of the robot, the hackbot making a sound similar to the excited chitter of a squirrel or a chipmunk of some kind.

"Wow that's coo- wait hacking? Isn't that kinda illegal?"

Sierra asked her eyes going wide at the news. Taz scoffed at the hybrids words holding the hackbot against her chest.

"it's only illegal if you get caught by the guard"

she said coyly, while Sierra began to gain an understanding as to why Taff had her very wide choice of words.

"Uh"

"cuz, it doesn't matter if the guard catches you or not. What matters is that you don't accidentally blow us all up to smithereens with your prototype's"

Taff said from where she had been silently standing behind Sierra, who jumped at the sound of her voice.

"Holy shit! I did not see you there!"

The hybrid swore as she stared at the yellow eyed irken in all of her sweatered glory.

"I'm quiet. Anyway cuz you can't just go hacking anywhere without a permit."

Taff coolly said a tired look in her eyes, the taller irken ignoring the look of shock and confusion the hybrid sent her way.

'You need a what to hack????'

Sierra asked herself confused greatly by the news.

"I knoooow but it takes so long to get one!"

Taz whined as she stepped away from the machine leaning against the wall beside it.

"'Sides I already got it ready to go!"

Taz said sounding far to smug for anyone's liking, Sierra herself feeling a sense of foreboding at her words.

'Why do I feel like something bad is going to happen?'

She shivered unconsciously at the feeling, before she slowly made her way hesitantly towards the machine looking to Taz for help.

"Anyways! Sierra lemme show you how to register into the system here!"

Taz presses up against the hybrid, their arms brushing barely against each other as she showed Sierra the process the hybrid smiling warmly all the while.

"So you press this button here and you'll be asked some typical questions. Like what's your age?, race, date of birth. Y'know typical stuff"

Taz explained while she pointed at a button on the touch screen. Sierra quickly followed the irken's directions, soon enough she answered all of the questions and she was nearly registered. Taz pulled away from Sierra as she had her photo taken and the hybrid watched with a look of awe as the card printed out from one of the slots of the machine.

"Nice!, now hand me your card!"

Taz chirped taking the card from Sierra and swiping it on the machine.

"Uh? What you need my card for exactly?"

"Huh?, oh just showing you how it works."

The irken said pointing out the several options that showed up on the screen.

"You see your registration card works as an ID, bank card, health information and pretty much everything else that you'd need!"

Sierra nodded in understanding as she looked at the screen taking in the sight of the information that showed up.

'Current bank account balance: $1,000,000'

Sierra gasped at the sight.

"WOAH WOAH HOld on there!, why do I have that much money on my account?!"

Taz blinked at Sierra's words before squinting at the screen.

"oh yeah I forgot to tell you about that."

The purple eyed irken said scratching at the back of her neck before she went back on the screen to press a button taking them to what Sierra could tell was a video.

"Watch this, it'll teach you everything you need to know about connection and about your card. At least way more than I ever could."

Taz said shrugging before she ran off to where the rest of the group stood talking amongst eachother. Sierra sighed, one hand petting koukai's head before she began to watch the video.

At least she thought it was a video, as her previous assumption was proven wrong when the same pixie haired light blue human looking woman from before popped onto the screen and addressed her directly.

"Good afternoon miss Sierra!"

Sierra stiffened slightly at the sound of her name before she focused more onto the digital woman on the screen who waved at her happily before she bowed slightly and continued on.

"My name is RA-025 but most just call me Rika, and I am one of two AI's that welcome newcomers to out welcoming planet of connection while also reaching them about the two sectors me and my brother help out."

Sierra blinked at the sheer amount of information that was being presented to her before she nodded slowly hesitantly opening her mouth to speak.

"Uh?, your an ai?"

The hybrid asked confused at the turn of events. She hadn't been expecting this but she wasn't too shocked.

'I mean anything is possible after all, and I mean earth had ai but nowhere near this advanced'

she thought as she watched Rika smile and nod at her question.

"Yes ma'am one of hundred's of registration ai that help teach those new to our planet about the common knowledge here and about our way of life here in the sectors we represent."

Sierra looked at her confused.

"sectors?"

She could remember varies vaguely explaining that to her. Rika seemed to look at her closer before she pulled back and closed her eyes humming before she opened them back up as a ding rang out.

"Ah I see, sectors I suppose could be seen as our version of countries and states if it helped you understand it better."

She said stepping off to the side as what looked like a map popped up beside her on the screen. Sierra looked at the map with wonder seeing how the 'sectors' were separated by thin black lines, it hadn't just been land for each sector but the water and land in each sector.

"This"

Rika began gesturing to a sector around the center of the map,

"is sector 7"

she finished smiling as she looked back at Sierra checking if she was still watching.

"There are a total of 30 sectors as of now but sectors have a habit of breaking into smaller sectors or more if they decide to do such."

Rika gestured towards a sector that was higher up beside sector 7.

"As is the case with sector 7 and there sibling sector 8 separating a good 120 years ago."

Sierra watched on taking in the small bits of information that were being taught to her.

"Wow, why did they separate?"

She asked curious.

"Ah, well many of the citizens living in the sector back then had a disagreement over how to lead the sector and they eventually agreed to separate and become there own sectors rather than just one."

The blue ai explained looking cheerful as she spoke.

"Huh? That's cool I guess, and they didn't have a war or anything?"

She asked hopeful that was the case.

"War?"

The teal haired ai squinted at her confused at the question.

"There hasn't been a war in connection for over 435 years."

Sierra's eyes widened at her words.

'That long?, holy hell that's leagues above earth.'

"Wow...."

the dirty blonde hybrid said breathlessly to herself.

"Indeed this part of our planet tries to avoid any conflict that could lead to something as destructive as a war, if a sector leader wished to have a fight or battle that could cause any sort of damage to their surroundings they would have to go to the one sector that they would be allowed to do said action."

Rika explained looking happy at the reactions she was getting from the hybrid. The ai had to admit she was getting bored as it had been a bit of a slow day, and not many people had been coming in lately to ask her or her brother for much information at all. This was a nice change of pace, she thought as she smiled again and made the map beside her disappear before she spoke up again.

"Are their any other questions you would like to ask about our planet?"

Sierra glanced down to her card, swiping her thumb across from where her picture was before she nodded and spoke up.

"Yeah, I was looking at my card on here and noticed that in my account that I had a million dollars and I just was a bit confused where that came from?"

The long haired hybrid asked.

"Oh! that?, newly registered citizens are given a million dollars once a year for their first ten years here on the planet."

Rika explained smiling warmly as she spoke, happy to finally have someone asking her questions. Sierra gaped at the ai shocked at her answer,

'one...million for ten years....'

she blinked back tears of joy before she wheezed out

"t-thank you..."

she could feel hundreds of ideas for what she could get or do with that kind of money.

'If I save the money I could set aside enough money to pay for my kids college whenever I have kids, or I could finally buy a house and a car!, holy shit even with just one million I'll be set for awhile!'

She thought excitedly not noticing how Rika looked around her form and how the female ai narrowed her bright blue eyes at the sight of Taz.

"Hey! Your not allowed in here!"

She yelled startling the hybrid and the rest of the group who had been talking amongst each other moments before.

"Shit"

Taz swore under her breath at the ai's words.

"Yeah I'm talking to you! You fucking twat!"

Sierra stepped away from the machine watching Rika's form turn a bright red as she shouted. Taz slowly turned around to face the machine Rika was in.

"hey there... forgot you were scheduled for today...."

the purple eyed irken said, a nervous chuckle in her words.

'What the fuck is going on?'

Sierra asked herself confused at the turn of events.

"Oh hell no!, like I'd fucking believe you to forget my days and times."

The now bright red AI shouted from behind the screen she was on.

"Especially after what you fucking did last time you came close to one of the registration centers here!"

Rika shouted her voice distorting from her anger. Sierra pulled away from the machine she had been standing in front of, wincing at the volume of rika's shouting.

"Well speaking of that...."

Taz said slowly bringing up a small remote with a few brightly colored buttons on it.

"I may or may not have already put some code in to make you forget I was here."

The purple irken said a smug smile on her face as she spoke.

"Wait...what!?"

Rika shouted before her image seemed to jerk and glitch out as Taz pressed a bright blue button on the small remote she had pulled out. Rika disappeared off of the screen, it blacking out for a minute before it lit back up rika's blue and teal form appearing and waving at the screen.

"Hello, due to technical difficulties this registration station had to temporarily reset but I may now answer your questions again!"

Sierra couldn't help but shiver at the sight.

"Holy shit, Taz what did you do to her?!"

Sierra asked worried for the ai's wellbeing.

"Relax"

Taz shrugged walking behind Sierra before she patted the side of the station.

"I just reset her memory of me ever coming to this registration center over the course of the past five months."

She explained as if it was obvious.

"You did what!"

Taff shouted tiredly from where she stood with the rest of the group.

"I reset a small part of her memory?"

Taz answered nervously at the sound of her cousins angry tone.

"Holy shit..."

Sierra whispered to herself looking at rika's form that seemed to be unaware of what was going on before her.

"Uh....is she supposed to act like this?"

The hybrid asked concerned. Taz glanced up at the screen shrugging.

"eh?...oh! Yeah she'll be fine, she'll recover the memories but we'll be long gone by that time."

The irken explained nonchalantly much to the others frustration.

"Taz, fam I respect and care for you but what the actual fuck?"

Dagian said shaking his head in frustration at the smaller irken.

"What?, if it's any consolation she won't remember all of us being here either."

"That's not the point Taz!, what about Sierra? Is she going to remember Sierra being here?"

Monica asked frustration seeping into her voice. Sierra stiffened at the sound of her name, before she looked down at her card again. The freshly printed plastic card was still warm in her hands, she rubbed her thumb over her picture again before she pulled out her phone looking at the time.

'3:25, we should still have enough time to figure this out before I go about changing my appearance up more.'

She thought as she put her phone away though she caught sight of Taff watching her closely.

"Rika won't realize who Sierra was until the code I used expires, which speaking of..."

Taz looked at a watch that was on her wrist before nodding.

"the code should expire in about an hour or so, so Sierra?"

The dirty blonde looked up at the sound of her name.

"Huh?"

"You done here?"

"Uh?, y-yeah I think I'm about done here."

She said nervously glancing back at Rika who still had a spacey smile on her face. sierra grimaced slightly at the sight before turning back to Taz.

"nice!, alright where to next friend!?"

Taz asked excitedly, Sierra blinked owlishly at her.

"Oh we're still hanging out? I kinda thought that you guys just wanted to go do you own thing after this without me..."

She admitted nervously looking to the entrance of the small building. She really didn't know her way around here, though she could faintly feel a tug towards somewhere from what felt like two small balls of life.

'Poppy and Derek'

she thought faintly before she looked back at Taz. The small irken looked almost disappointed at her words, her large purple bug like eyes saddened slightly.

"What? no! To be honest some of us were thinking we could help give you an update to your look!"

Sierra couldn't help but smile weakly at her words, glancing at the rest of the group who shrugged or nodded in agreement except for Monica who stared back at her before rolling her four eyes and shrugged.

"sure why the fuck not"

she said sounding slightly annoyed, Taz smiled widely at the other hybrids words before she looked at Sierra expectedly. Sierra held back a groan of frustration with the two choices before her, finally shrugging and nodded giving in.

"yeah sure, why the hell not?"

She said before walking towards the rest of the group. Taz clapping her hands excitedly and beginning to talk energetically to Sierra.

"Nice!, first things first though can I see your phone?"

Sierra felt warm as they left the building and as she handed her phone over to Taz and watched her in wonder as she proceeded to 'upgrade' her phone. She hoped varies's was doing alright after she had shouted at her.

Varies watched the holoscreen television as a red blooded troll woman and a brown furred bear monster man gave out a news report on what had happened at the livestream an hour ago. The long haired daemon couldn't help but flinch everytime she saw Sierra's picture on the screen. Guilt filling her and eating her from the inside. She fucked up, that much was true. She had probably chosen the worst time possible to tell Sierra the truth about her species and even worse didn't even tell her the bare minimum information about said species.

'And now she went through part of her first pupation on live television thanks to me not working her beforehand'

she thought with a grimace as she struggled to relax in one of the plush leather seats of one of her friends homes. Kanaya looked at her, the jade blood giving her a look of understanding as she came out from her kitchen holding a small tray that held a tea set along with some cookies that she had probably bought earlier that week. Varies sighed and rubbed at her eyes with one hand exhaustion hitting her. Glancing quickly at the two pik pik birds that were currently sleeping next to eachother in one of rose's baskets full of yarn. The daemon sighed again before she finally spoke up as the jade blood sat down into the worn arm chair across from her, setting the tray down gently onto the small coffee table in between them.

"I fucked up kanaya, I fucked up so bad today."

She said her word muffled slightly from behind her hands that were pressed into her face. Guilt ate at her ever more as she heard more and more from the holoscreen before it went quiet.

"I think that's enough television for today.."

kanaya said as she set the remote control back onto the table after she turned off the holoscreen. The room was silent aside from Varies struggling to hold back the tears of regret that were welling up in her eyes and the small chocked sobs that threatened to come spilling out from her mouth.

"Varies..."

the jade troll began, eyes creased in concern.

"You May have not chosen the best time to reveal her true species, but you at least told her before she found out without you."

Varies's brushed some of her messy curly hair out of her face. Some of her locks getting caught in one of her tusk-like fangs making her scrunch her face up in annoyance before she nodded in agreement at the trolls words.

She trusted kanaya's words, about as much as she trusted tommybone's. It had been an accident meeting the troll, it really had; she had seen years ago that a clothing boutique had a knitting club. She had been ecstatic to find a place that she could practice her hobby without her brother poking fun about it.

'You look like a grandmother when you knit solar'

he would say, making her both grimace and flush in embarrassment and annoyance at the sound of her dead name. She wasn't solar anymore, hadn't been for a good long while. Solar had died in that cave crushed underneath hundreds of tons of rocks, his body nearly flattened to a mash of powdered bones and squashed flesh; but serenity's potion and spell had worked. When his body was eventually found by zalgo and his brother, after what was left of his body was forced to drink some of his own blood he changed. His body healed itself, pulling itself back into shape. Solar that day had become more feminine in shape though, a new life breathed into his body. The memories of his past life forgotten behind a thick fog, and from that fog varies had risen up and taken his place. Varies could feel herself stiffening up at the memory of when she had first woken up on that freezing cold cave floor.

"Varies?"

She snapped her face back to look at kanaya, the jade blooded troll had a look of understanding. 

"Oh...I was doing it again wasn't I?"

She asked rubbing at the back of her neck. Her mind always did that whenever she got to guilt ridden, trailing off and looking for something to get lost in. Kanaya gave her a look she knew all to well.

"sorry, I just blanked out on you there."

She apologized picking up one of the tea cups that kanaya had filled up with some hot water and a tea bag that looked like it had steeped long enough.

"It's fine, I know how it is."

Kanaya said in an understanding tone. Varies couldn't help but sigh again guilt eating at her.

"I feel awful kanaya, like I couldn't have chosen a worse time to tell her about her real species?"

The daemon groaned frustrated at herself as blew gently at the tea cup in her hand before she took a small sip from the cup. There was a soft sigh from the troll in front of her before the jade blood spoke up again.

"Like I said before you did what you thought was best, even though tom convinced you to tell her a lot quicker than you probably should have."

Varies can hear the lit of annoyance in her voice clearly, she struggles to not chuckle at the sound. Tommybone and kanaya have always had a bit of a rivalry when it came to there stores and when it came to helping Varies out in guiding her to choosing her own decisions. Tom the harsher of the two and kanaya more stern and gentle in a way that varies thinks a mother or a very caring aunt acts like.

"Regardless you did what you thought was right and this girl understands that."

Varies's nods in agreement taking another small sip of tea, the smell of roses and peppermint surrounding her as she drank the pleasantly warm tea. The liquid soothing her throat and pleasantly settling in her stomach.

"Yeah, Sierra just seemed a bit overwhelmed when she went off to the capital building."

She said glancing at the blank holoscreen, guilt swelling up inside her again.

"Varies..."

she looked back at kanaya as she spoke.

"You care about her and you tried to do what was right and that's what matters."

The jade blood offered a weak smile to the daemon who just nodded a sad look in her violet glowing eyes.

"I suppose your right about that..."

she said as she took another sip of tea.

"Besides this girl must be really special if she has you feeling this guilty."

Varies perked up slightly at the Jadebloods words. She chuckled weakly rubbing at the back of her neck a soft blush coming to her cheeks as she thought about Sierra. The way the hybrids eyes seemed to always glint with childish wonder or a hidden sadness that seemed to come out of nowhere. Or how her long dirty blonde hair when the sunlight hit it seemed to grow brighter than it should have been able to; she couldn't help the slight churn of guilt in her gut as she remembered the look of frustration and betrayal that the hybrid had given her as she had climbed onto koukai's back and left for the capital building.

"Yeah..., she really is something else."

Varies said looking down into the tea cup watching the small flakes of tea leaves floating at the bottom of her cup. She smiled softly as she thought more about Sierra. Though she struggled not to grimace when she realized that she didn't really know that much about the hybrids aside from some of her life history and that was it.

"What are some of the things that you like about her?, if you don't mind me asking?"

Varies blinked before she spoke up looking at the troll.

"I actually don't know...?"

She winced at how bad that sounded coming from her and judging by the look kanaya gave her she was good for thinking so.

"You're in a relationship with someone and you don't even know why you like them?"

Varies looked away from the questioning look the glowing Jadeblood gave her. She winced again at the realization that she really didn't know who Sierra completely was. All she could think of was that the hybrid had a sense of humor and that she seemed to enjoy learning about new species and nature in general.

"Fuck I really rushed into this didn't I?"

She asked as she pressed her face into her free hand a frustrated sigh escaping from her. Kanaya gave her a hum before she grabbed her own tea cup and took out the tea bag from it and sipped at the cup.

"I don't know what do you think?"

She asked quietly before she took another sip.

"I don't fucking know kanaya! Maybe I just got caught up in how kind she was to everyone including me!"

Varies spat out growing frustrated at herself as she began to vent.

"Maybe I forgot that she isn't who she looks like!, maybe I fucking forgot that she's someone completely different than her!"

Varies groaned setting her tea cup down onto its saucer a bit louder than she meant to before she put her face into both of her hands. Kanaya watched the daemon with a look of understanding before she rolled her eyes.

"Varies calm down before you accidentally break one of rose's tea cups again."

She only got another frustrated grown from the daemon before she lowered her tea cup onto her own saucer before taking a deep breath in and letting it out slowly through her nose.

"Varies I want you to listen to me dear."

Varies didn't show any sign of hearing the troll but kanaya went on.

"Do you care about this girl?"

Varies rose her head up from her hands, eyes watery with unshed tears.

"Do you like this girl?"

Kanaya asked her again calmer than before, varies gave her a slight nod.

"Alright, now do you feel something with her?"

Varies's opened her mouth to answer kanaya quickly speaking again before she could answer.

"I mean something that isn't from a previous relationship of yours that you may or may not be still recovering from."

Varies closed her mouth shut with a sharp 'clack' sound. Before she seemed to think before she slowly shook her head no. Kanaya sighed again from her nose a tired look appearing in her eyes.

"Do you want to change that?"

Tears sold down Varies's cheeks as she nodded and croaked out a single word.

"Yes"

kanaya nodded and gave a gentle warm smile to the other before she spoke up again.

"Then next time you see her let her know that you'd like to be friends for now."

Varies nodded giving a watery smile before she spoke up again.

"I will."

Sierra had to admit connection was looking better and better compared to earth. She could still see the small issues with the planet, mostly the slight racism towards a particular species of elf; that and a few other small budding ones that she could feel after finally reading some of the pamphlets that Calcia had given her. She had only read through two of the things but she already felt a little more aware of where she was. She made sure to pay special attention to the list of species common in connection.

'Can't go around gaping at every new species I see after all.'

She told herself as she leaned back into the soft leather solan chair she was sitting in. Taz had after 'upgrading' Sierra's phone had led her and the rest of the group to a solan that she knew someone she personally knew worked at.

"He's such an amazing guy trust me guys you'll just love him!"

Taz said from a chair across the group with Taff and Tobias on either side of her. Monica snorted from where she sat beside Agacie, rolling her first set of eyes at the irken's excitement.

"Taz, not to be rude or anything but it's just a hair salon not the next tech expo."

She said dryly to the purple eyed irken making said irken scoff before laughing waving one of her gloved hands at the elf hybrids words.

"Psssh says the person who has hair to work with!, last I checked we irken's don't grow a lick of hair on our body's."

Taz shot out quickly raising an antenna at Monica. Monica sighed and shook her head her a pair of her hands in her pants pockets.

"Still doesn't mean you have to freak out about someone who cuts hair."

Taz only sighed at her before looking like she was rolling her eyes, not that Sierra could really tell if she was or not. The dirty blonde hybrid was more focused on reading more of the pamphlets in her hands at the moment. She was reading over each inch of the piece of colorful paper with fervor. Drinking in every bit of information as if she was a lost man in a desert dying of thirst. Several bits of information and history of the planet was before her and she better understood how the planet worked, At least a bit better than before. Information about animals native to the planet caught her eye more than she would like to admit. She then made it to her fifth pamphlet before she seemed to freeze at the title of it.

'Magi's and the basics to know of the species and subspecies!'

The pamphlet was a soft baby blue with a bright circle of yellow in the middle around the black words. A pair of blue and green moth wings were behind the circle of yellow making it look as if they were sprouting from the back of it. Sierra glanced quickly at the others nervously, she felt guilty almost. As if she wasn't allowed to read the small piece of folded up paper in her hands. When she saw that the rest of the group was busy talking with each other about taz's interest in hair Sierra looked back down at the pamphlet as if it had changed in the small amount of time since she had pried her eyes away from it. She hesitated before she finally opened the pamphlet. Nervous energy filling as she took in the sight of the inside of the pamphlet. Small paragraphs of information covered the inside reminding the hybrid more of an amusement park pamphlet she had seen once at a truck stop when she and her family was driving from there home to Florida. She had always thought they painted over the reality of said parks to bring in more and more customers. She did get that proven when she got her first and only job. Managers telling her small things that just proved that greed filled those at the top of the food chain. She always had hated that fact but she forced herself to take a closer look at the pamphlet. The sight of the largest thing in the pamphlet was the picture of several people in a crowd with happy cheerful faces. Each of them she noticed had similar parts of them that they all shared, though they all did look drastically different from one another.

'Magi's and a few of the many hybrids they have!'

She took a closer look at a few of the 'hybrids' on the page and quickly spotted one that reminded her of Agacie. They had perked up ears which she had read from one of her earlier pamphlets was a sign that the repsies is a male. She looked closer at the repsies, taking in their partially unmasked face and the five eyes on their face. All five of them a bright seemingly glowing green blue. She couldn't help but gently trace his eyes on the slick smooth colored paper with her nails. The sight was a dead ringer for her own, how they seemed to glow brightly now. She glanced away from the magi-repsies hybrid to read some of the information that was beside him.

'Repsies, even though they are a magi-made species are very compatible with many species, magi included. Magi-repsies hybrids however are very rare due to the more unstable nature of a magi's DNA. As such magi-repsies hybrids are considered a sign of good luck and are welcomed into most sectors with a small bit of fanfare. Though there has been a bit of a decline for the subspecies in more recent years.'

Sierra couldn't help but feel a twinge of a deep mourning as she read the last sentence.

'Damn that sucks, I can't imagine ever being part of a species that's that rare.'

She thought remembering how she'd learn about extinct animals and endangered animals. How some people seemed to be uncaring of the species until it was nearly too late for them.

She shook away the feeling of sorrow and looked more at the picture of the repsies hybrid. Atop his head was a pair of feathered antenna that reminded her strongly of a moths and butterflies. Then below the first pair of arms he had were two more, though they looked a bit smaller than the first ones. She noticed how his tail seemed to look similar to a scorpions. She noticed the note next to the hybrid's tail.

'more insectioid tails and features are very common for magi's and their subspecies and the hybrids that come from both. For example: a magi-repsies hybrid may have the chance of their tail developing into a tail that closely resembles that of a scorpions, or even one that looks close to the abdomen of a dragonfly or moth and butterfly. Though there have been a few rare cases where a repsies hybrid's tail will develop to look like the abdomen of a spider and will even be capable of spinning silk from said tail!'

Sierra kinda smiled at the exclamation point at the end of the sentence. She couldn't help imaging a hybrid with a tail like that, did they sew? Did they make clothes out of the silk their tail could produce? Her thoughts did cut off when she noticed the wings on the repsies. Large blue and yellow butterfly wings were spread out behind him. The look of pride in his face as if he was proud of the wings and how he looked. Sierra couldn't help but feel a sense of yearning for wings, even feeling a phantom sensation of something twitching in between her shoulder blades. She shrugged it off as her imagination as she went on reading the pamphlet with genuine excitement now. Her eyes roamed over the entire pamphlet to start reading what she figured was the start of the pamphlet.

'During your stay and or life here on connection you may meet or hear about the species known as magi's (mag-ee) this pamphlet will teach you the main basics of the magi species but please do consider that this is not all of the current available information about the species, their subspecies, and the many hybrids that the species are often associated with.'

Sierra nodded as she read her eyes intense as she soaked up every word of information.

'The most common attributes that are most commonly associated with magi's here on our planet is the five common elements. Air, water, fire, Earth, and lastly and the most rare of the five spirit. Magi's naturally have an innate connection with these five elements though there are cases where magi's are more adept in other rarer elements. Example's of this are snow or ice which can be seen as sub elements of water. These can happen very rarely though as it's more common for magi's to use the main five elements more.'

She nodded unknowingly as she read the information. That explained her recent abilities with growing plant life, she glanced down quickly at the opalescent flower that was still twined around her wrist. She could feel the blooms roots twitch occasionally from where they were buried under her skin. The sensation was an odd one but something about it didn't make her panic, only smile gently. She looked back at the pamphlet curious about her newfound species that she apparently was a part of.

'Magi's can straight from birth have an immediate connection with their elements that they will when older, exel at using. For example: magi's that have a strong connection to the element of nature may have the ability to grow plants or be better at gardening than most or even are able to approach wild animals with little to no trouble. While a magi that has more of a connection to fire will be more interested in learning how fire works and practice by making sparks or even lighting things on fire much to the displeasure of the parents of said magi.'

Sierra couldn't help quietly chuckling at the mental image of a small child lighting things one fire only to get gently reprimanded by their parents.

'Definitely a pyromaniac that's for sure.'

She thought thinking briefly if maybe she was a fire magi as well. She always had an odd connection to fire and would just sit and watch the flames on candles burn with an awe that she couldn't place. She continued reading barely noticing the silence around her as if the conversation around her was ending.

'Magi's have two main parts of the species as a whole. There are the more common 'magi' which are what most of the magi species consist of. The common magi usually have the normal six arms, five eyes, pair of antenna, set of wings; that can be either moth, dragonfly, butterfly, finned, or the even rarer wing trait bird like wings that have thin colored flaps of skin that look and feel almost like feathers. The common magi can also straight from birth be capable of controlling three of the five elements which is very common for a magi to be able to use more than one element straight from birth aside from only one which is actually a much rarer trait for the species.'

Sierra glanced down at the image of what looked almost like a normal human man with tan skin and long dark brown hair. At least until you took note of the fact he had five bright green eyes, what looked like long black butterfly antenna, six arms and then a pair of what she noticed looked like monarch butterfly wings. She could feel the pang of deep yearning again at the sight of his wings, a deep primal part of her screamed that she should have wings herself.

'I'll admit his wings kinda look really cool, kinda jealous of them.'

She thought to herself as she stared on. Sierra shook herself out of her thoughts and decided to avoid looking at the wings that many of the other people on the pamphlet had. The hybrid couldn't help though when her eyes drifted away from the words on the pamphlet back to the other people on the pamphlet. How happy they all seemed to be, how proudly they spread their wings and showed them off on the piece of paper in her hands. She jolted violently when she felt a soft furred paw on her arm, eyes looking up at the masked smiling face of Agacie. Who blinked in surprise at Sierra's reaction.

"whoa, didn't mean to surprise you there Sierra."

Sierra could feel her cheeks flush darkly in embarrassment at the repsies's words her hands quickly covering the paper of the pamphlet on her lap.

"Oh!, it's alright I was just so focused on reading some of these pamphlet's that I got from someone earlier today when I first came into the city."

Sierra explained awkwardly her glowing blue green eyes glancing away from the others bright blue eyes that seemed to have a gentle aura about them. Agacie chuckled at her words, one of her white and light pink paws waving her explanation away.

"That quite alright Sierra, I get what you mean."

Sierra could hear the smile in her tone as she looked back up at the masked face of the other.

"Besides, I was just getting your attention for a bit. Taz's hairdresser friend is finally ready to do your hair."

The dirty blonde hybrid smiled warmly at Agacie's words before she glanced around the waiting room, seeing that most of the group was talking to what she could tell was a black man with long thick braided hair that had a brilliantly bright smile on his face as he talked with some of the group.

"Oh... heh sorry again about spacing out."

Sierra rubbed at the back of her neck eyes looking down at the ground as she good up from her seat and capthaloged the pamphlet's in her hands back into her deck. The hybrid still wasn't sure how the whole process worked but decided to not really question it.

"Of it's fine dear. Monica and me get super invested into reading as well when we do get to reading something. Though.."

Agacie trailed off slightly glancing to where Monica talked with the hairdresser seemingly giving him a hard from what the repsies's could see.

"Monica is the type of person who takes their reading far too seriously."

Sierra gave her a confused look before Agacie chuckled nervously and waved one of her paws quickly.

"I mean that she's the kind of person who reads the terms of agreement completely before she finally agrees to it."

She got a snort from the dirty blonde at her words, before she herself chuckled along with them.

"No way! Does she really?"

"It's true! I watched her do it myself once!"

Sierra laughed again though a bit louder than before.

"Holy shit!, I can't imagine how long that must've taken"

"well if my memory serves me right, it took her almost two hours to read the entire thing. She is a very stubborn person after all."

Sierra chuckled at the words a warm smile on her face as she and Agacie made their way to the hairdresser.

By the time it was 5:00, Sierra had long since left the solan and was headed to the clothing store that Sierra had recalled varies telling her about before the hybrid had ran off with koukai to the capital building. Monica's group had left for their college building after trading phone numbers with Sierra. Taz and Agacie being the most insistent on trading phone numbers. Sierra had been more than happy to trade numbers with them, though she tried to ignore the possibility that her number might not work exactly on another planet other than earth. Taz had grabbed ahold of both of Sierra's hands when she was getting ready to leave the store front; after she had changed her clothes in the solans restroom into something she thought looked more appropriate than her lazy Sunday clothes that varies had put on her. the purple eyed irken had given her a bright warm smile as he black gloved hands clutched her hands tightly before she spoke.

'It was amazing getting to meet you Sierra!, and just know that you can call me anytime you need to!'

Taz told her, eyes closed shut as she beamed up at the hybrid. Sierra returned the shorter irken's bright smile with one of her own.

'Same here Taz!, I had a pretty damn good time hanging out with y'all!'

Sierra looked down briefly at the firm grip Taz had on her hands taking in the site of how much smaller the irken was compared to her.

'I'll be honest I'm kinda glad I got to meet you. My mind was kinda going to a pretty bad place when you guys came at to the park, so t-thank you for helping me take my mind off of what was going on in my mind.'

Taz looked up at her listening to her words with a patience that Sierra had yet to see on the normally energetic irken.

'I know the feeling; I get those kinda thoughts all of the time'

Taz released her hold of sierras hands to wring her gloved hands together as a the darker purple pseudo-pupils in her eyes glanced down at the ground and her antenna laid flat on her head.

'Those kind of thoughts are the worst'

she looked back up at Sierra's face a forced smile on her face as she spoke.

'Yeah they suck.'

Sierra had weakly agreed with the irken as she carefully brushed some of the half of her newly dyed hair.

Sierra felt Koukai bump his head against one of her hands snapping the dirty blonde hybrid out of her thoughts about the words Taz had spoken to her.

"Ah! Sorry 'bout that koukai, just got a bit distracted is all."

She said quietly to the Minerva that walked beside her as Sierra followed the trail to where she could feel poppy and Derek were. It was an odd sort of tug at her entire being, something that when she focused hard enough on it would become to her eyes a strand of bright pink and green light that led her down the road and in between alleyways. The two of them were currently walking down what Sierra could vaguely recognize as the same road that she had ridden koukai down to race to the capital building and away from varies.

'It's alright, just was a bit curious about what you're going to tell your friend?, mate? The woman who you're traveling with'

koukai's voice echoed in Sierra's mind giving the hybrid a sense of relief at the sensation that she wasn't completely alone.

"Oh!, you mean varies?"

'Yes, the female who smelled similar to the male with the long tail of the small pack that you were interacting with.'

Sierra chuckled at the Minerva's words.

"Yeah you do know you can just call them by their names right?"

Sierra said as she glanced briefly at the reflective window of the store front beside them. She smiled at the sight of her reflection, enjoying the sight of her new appearance. She had while at the solan gotten half of her hair bleached and dyed a soft pastel lilac and some highlights for the rest of her hair,she had even made sure to put the pale yellow lux arbor flower back in her hair after her hair had been dried. She had gotten changed out of the mismatching clothes that varies had put her in before and was now wearing one of the newer outfits she had gotten back on earth. The dark indigo shirt that had flowers of all colors on green vines all over the shirt along with the occasional butterfly and hummingbird. Along with the pair of loose fitting blue jeans and her blue jacket that still had a few of the patches she had ironed on it back she had first moved out of her family's home while sleeping over at Morgan's house and the two of them enjoying time with each other as they talked about anything and everything. The one purple butterfly patch was beginning to come off but she was definitely going to reattach it once she was more settled in at wherever she was going to next when she met back up with Varies.

'Oh, I didn't know.'

Koukai said again into her mind as he nuzzled her hand making the hybrid smile at him before she began scratching a spot behind one of his jackrabbit-esque ears.

"Yeah you can start by calling me by my name, if you want bud."

She said giving him a warm smile as she scratched the large dog sized Minerva's head more.

'Ah okay Sierra!'

She could feel his long tail thumping hard against her leg as the two of them walked down the road ignoring the odd looks they got from some of the few people they passed on the sidewalk.

"There you go koukai!"

She smiled warmly at him as she spoke.

"And to answer question about varies. I think maybe me and her should start over, not be dating or anything and instead be just friends for now."

She said quietly as she could feel her smile weakening as she spoke, the burning glow in her eyes dulling slightly.

'Hmm, do you really wish to do that?'

Sierra looked down at the concrete sidewalk before as she walked.

"I'll be honest I don't want to but I've been thinking."

She looked to the Minerva before she went on.

"I don't know varies as well I think I do. I think I might have rushed into this with her so I think we should restart by being friends instead of whatever we are right now."

She sighed and looked up to the still blue sky that was slightly speckled with white fluffy clouds. She could see from where she stood on the ground giant distant dragon-Esque creatures flew in the sky. She even caught the sight of small groups of fairy like creatures flying above her head.

"And I think that I'm pretty okay with that."

She finished a soft smile on her face unaware of koukai watching her intently, the barest curve under his eyes making him look happy at the sight of the person he was bonded to. Warmth filling the Minerva as he felt the genuine joy coming off of the hybrid as they went to the store that varies was in.

Sierra looked at the painted sign hanging above the stores doorway, her nerves alight as she nervously tried to bring herself to go in.

'Maryam's boutique'

she recognized the name as the last name of one of the characters from homestuck but she shrugged it off as more of a tribute kind of name instead of the actual troll owning the store. She and koukai's finally went into the store, the door bell ringing as the two of them walked inside. She felt awkward and out of place as she walked farther into the store and looked around for varies.

"Hello there, and welcome to maryam's boutique how can I help yo-"

Sierra has spun around to face the all too familiar face of Rose Lalonde who's words trailed off as she seemed to recognize who was standing in her store.

"Uh..."

"oh it's you"

Sierra could feel sweat forming as her anxiety kicked into gear.

"Y-yeah, Uh is there i m-miss varies here? I kinda was supposed to meet up with her here."

She looked away from the intense analyzing look that the light blonde gave her.

"Varies?, she in the back right now but I can take you there if you'd like"

Sierra nodded awkwardly.

"y-yes please that would be nice, thank you."

Sierra avoided looking anywhere but at rose. She followed the human through a door that lead deeper into what she figured was the back of the store, realizing a bit late that she hadn't seen anyone else in the store other than rose. She and koukai followed after as rose lead them down what looked like the hallway to a house. Picture frames that had pictures of rose and kanaya in them along with several others that Sierra recognized as other characters from homestuck. Pictures of the two women smiling warmly while standing in front of a newer version of the store front. A picture of the two at what looked like a wedding alter kanaya in a wedding dress and rose in a suit. The dirty blonde couldn't help but smile at the sight as she followed rose into what looked like a large living room. The hybrid did notice kanaya but her eyes mostly were drawn towards where varies sat on a maroon love seat, a tea cup in her hands. The two stared at each other silently, Sierra barely hearing kanaya and rose saying they would leave them alone with each other for a moment. Her heart beat quickly as she took in the sight of varies who looked like she had been worried sick since Sierra last saw her. She could see the dried tear tracks faintly, the way Varies's eyes looked bloodshot from crying, her wild wavy hair seemed to be a worse mess from before. Sierra hesitated a moment before she opened her mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry"

"I'm really sorry"

the two tensed when they both spoke at the same time, the two stared at each other in surprise before Sierra snorted before she chuckled slightly at the incident before she spoke up again.

"S-Sorry I'm not laughing at you, it's just that was pretty dumb right there."

Varies chuckled along with Sierra waving a hand.

"No it's alright, I guess we both have been pretty anxious about seeing each other again Huh?"

Sierra's smile weakened before she nodded her eyes softening.

"Yeah.."

the two of them were silent again before Varies stood up slowly looking at Sierra, taking in her appearance guilt filling her before she gave the hybrid a small smile.

"I really am sorry about before, I should have told you-"

"no! I-it alright Varies! I was just kinda....overwhelmed I guess."

The two looked at each other as they finished speaking. The two of them couldn't keep eye contact with each other before Varies straightened herself up in front of the other before she spoke up again.

"Sierra"

"yeah?"

"I think we should start over."

Sierra looked up at Varies's words, eyes brightening in surprise at the others words before relief filled her.

"Oh thank fuck!, I was thinking the same thing I'll be honest."

Varies looked up at Sierra's words surprise clear on her face.

"Wait really?"

"Yeah!, I was just thinking about y'know? This whole whatever it is between the two of us and it just didn't sit right with me Y'know?"

"Yeah!, gods I thought it was just me!"

The two seemed to sag in relief as they both spoke.

"Nope I guess now that I look back on it we both kinda jumped into it."

"Yeah..."

Varies said a relieved smile on her face.

"So?"

"Huh?"

"Want to start over again? As friends I mean."

Sierra asked looking into Varies's glowing violet eyes, her hands fidgeting with one another. Varies blinked at Sierra before a small warm smile spread across her face.

"Yeah, I'd like that."

The two hugged each other tightly, grateful for the second chance that the other had offered. Happy and content to have each other again to depend on.

"So when did you get your hair dyed exactly?"

Varies's asked as she pulled away from the hug to take in the sight of Sierra's newly dyed hair.

"Uh, so that's kinda a funny story."

Sierra chuckled nervously looking away.

"We got more than enough time"

varies sat back down onto the couch, patting the seat next to her.

"If your okay with telling me that is?"

Sierra smiled warmly at the daemon making her way on the seat giving her a warm look before she spoke up again.

"I'd love to, varies."

She agreed petting koukai as he laid his head onto her knees and the hybrid began to catch the daemon up with everything that happened to her since going to the capital building. Both taking their time and enjoying each other's company more than when they first came to the capital.


	19. Chapter 18: a fresh start

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sierra and varies make their way back to the woods after having dinner at kanaya and rose's home and sierra discover's a new way to use her plant growing ability. meanwhile varies is freaked out and uneased about said ability.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (merry belated christmas and happy new year y'all!, i'm happy to have finished this chapter before january ended so i hope that i'll be able to get two chapter's out this month. but regardless this chapter was one of my shorter one's but don't worry the next one is going to be much larger and i'm going to try a newer writing style that if i like it i'll update the earlier chapter's to have a similar style as 19. if i remember....-_-'''' but anyway i hope y'all will like this newest chapter! ^_^)

"Thank you again kanaya for letting us join you and rose for dinner but I think me and Sierra should really head out to set up camp for tonight."

Varies thanked again in front of the store front, Sierra and koukai standing beside her while poppy and Derek sat on each of the daemon's horns. Rose and kanaya stood in their store's doorway, the dim light of the store like a halo around their body's as varies spoke.

"It really was no problem varies, just remember that rose and I consider you family. I mean we've known each other for how long now?"

Varies rubbed at the back of her neck at the Virgo's words.

"Long enough I suppose."

The daemon chuckled out as she gave the couple a warm smile.

"But honestly thank you for the dinner again. And it was nice of you to offer to let us sleep over but I don't want to intrude anymore than we probably have already."

Varies said bowing slightly before the two, a grateful tone in her words.

"Your welcome, and I hope you two have a good nights rest."

Kanaya said as she waved goodbye to the toe of them as she and rose headed back inside the store. Sierra waved back watching as they went inside and eventually the lights inside the store went black.

"Come on Sierra we don't want to wait till it's dark out to set up camp"

varies said turning around and beginning to walk down the sidewalk the way they had come from earlier that day. Sierra was silent before she nodded before speaking up

"right!"

She quickly caught up with the violet eyed daemon, koukai at her heels. Poppy and Derek were still sitting perched on either one of Varies's horns asleep. Sierra couldn't help smiling warmly at the sight, a warmth welling up in her chest as she could feel the two birds sleeping deeply. The thin line of life she had followed to them earlier was weaker, a much duller string of life. The hybrid took in the sight of the evening sky; warm oranges and yellows painted the sky as cool purples and dark blues began to overtake the sky. She watched the sky in awe at the beautiful sight, the three moons shining bright in the sky even though it was still daylight out.

"It's so much more peaceful here than back on earth don't you think?"

She spoke up suddenly. Varies nodded, a calm smile on her face.

"it really is, isn't it?"

The daemon said as she looked up at the sky taking a deep breath of clean air into her lungs, before she slowly let it out.

"I mean not that earth is less peaceful!, it's just...connection is so much more friendly than earth."

Varies couldn't help but glance behind her at Sierra taking in the bittersweet smile that was on the hybrids face. Her eyes still glowing that bright blue, the soft glow casting shadows on the others cherubic cheeks. The sight alone made varies grow concerned for the other. How sad her eyes almost looked in that moment made the daemon feel off at the very sight. How strange the usually happy go lucky hybrid looked with the strangely somber look in her eyes.

"But I know that can change in the future!"

Sierra's face brightened back up into an almost forced beaming smile.

"I just know that when I get back to earth that'll I'll have more than enough proof to show the world that we can live together without always being at each other's throats constantly!"

As she spoke her smile became more genuine and less forced.

"And maybe earth can finally heal when everyone starts focusing on what really matters. Rather than the smaller things."

Varies gave her a small nod and a small warm smile before she looked back in front of her.

'What does that mean?, "what really matters?" '

She thought to herself, mulling over the hybrids words and trying to ignore the feeling of discomfort at what her mind was coming up with. The concept of a planet having wars over something as simple as race or religion wasn't a new one to those on connection. The planet itself had seen more than its fair share of war and violence. She frowned slightly as she remembered the history books she had read and the several history lesson's her brother had made sure to drive into her head. How violent the people of connection could become if push came to shove, what crimes could be committed if someone was prepared enough to do said crimes. Lessons of why exactly the great flood happened, who had caused the great flood. The sheer millions of lives that had been lost in one of the most disastrous moments in their worlds history. The thought alone made spikes of fear go through her body before she steeled herself and forced herself to focus on leading Sierra back up the hill they had come from hours earlier. She tried to ignore the chill of fear when she recalled the look she had seen on Sierras face when the hybrid had told her briefly about the wars that had happened on earth when the daemon had asked. How dead her eyes had looked as she brushed off the mentions of genocide and wars camps. How thousands of people had been killed because of something as simple as religion. The daemon felt a deep rooted concern for Sierra at the memory of how dead she looked when talking about these things. Varies couldn't help the small sad smile that spread onto her face when she came to the sudden realization that Sierra considered connection a paradise when compared to earth. She really shouldn't have been that surprised, the clues had been there from the very first moment she had told the former human about her world briefly. The glint of excitement in her blue green hazel eyes, the look of yearning Sierra would make whenever varies told the party group about how connection worked. How that look of childish awe would become more pronounced as she would go on. Then there had been the conversation the two of them had when driving back from the Walmart that last day on earth. How when she finally told the former human that connection wasn't as great as it may seem. The look of brief annoyance and dissatisfaction Sierra had made briefly before the look of understanding had overcome her face. Varies could feel that Sierra was someone more than just childish awe and wonder that had been mashed into an eccentric person. She couldn't put her finger on what exactly it was yet but she just knew Sierra was more than what she showed off for everyone else around her. And that thought alone almost unnerved the daemon to a point, but she shook it off as their small group finally reached back to the edge of the city.

"Phew! I was starting to wonder if we'd get back here in time before the sun went down."

Sierra spoke up behind her, making varies nod and give a warm smile to the hybrid behind her who gave her one of her own in return.

"Yeah, it is almost dark out so let's hurry up and find a place to set up camp for tonight and then we can finally settle down for the night."

Varies said beginning to ascend the steep hill ahead of them, unaware of how Sierra seemed to pause at her words and look back at the capital with a look of longing almost. The dirty blonde took in the sight of the calm outer-city, taking in everything from the small cozy houses that each had iron wrought and wooden fences that surrounded each house. The cobblestone street and concrete sidewalk lined with large pots full of bright blooming flowers of all colors and electric lampposts that seemed to look like something straight out of a storybook. She smiled at the sight before looking back to the sight of Varies's form already halfway up the hill.

"Shit!"

She swore before her and koukai quickly went after the daemon ascending up the hill. The hybrid smiling all the while as she looked forward to spending another day on connection.

"Okay so i think we should look for a small clearing for the night?, nothing to crazy just big enough so that we can have a good sized fire and enough room to sleep comfortably."

Varies explained to Sierra as the walked around the edges of the trees closest to the capital.

"Makes sense."

Sierra agreed slowly looking around them and out into the darkening forest around them. It was almost to dark now to see the deeper parts of the forest clearly, but Sierra? Sierra couldn't help blinking in confusion at the sight before her. She could see the dark of the woods clearly, they were still dripping with the darkness of the oncoming night, but the hybrid could see the details of the trees around them clearer than she ever could before in her life. She glanced briefly to where varies seemed to stumble occasionally in the growing darkness, a strange feeling forming in the pit of her stomach.

'Should I tell her?'

She asked herself watching the daemon stop occasionally to pick up sticks and slightly dried grass and leaves before putting them into the growing bundle of kindling in her arms. The hybrid looked away when she felt the still odd tugging of something trying to call out to her, at least in the new way that she was slowly becoming accustomed to. She tensed slightly at the strange voice that seemed to call out to her.

'Wa.k...e..us....u..p'

she turned towards the source of the sound, her eyes burning brightly as she allowed herself to be led away from the still busy daemon that was still gathering up kindling for the fire for tonight. Sierra could barely hear when varies had called out to her as the hybrid walked deeper into the woods following after the sound of a strange near ethereal voice calling out to her.

'Pl...was..e....wak...e....us'

she followed the voice faster now, her feet mindlessly moving forward her eyes glowing brighter as the strange thrumming energy that had filled her before surged inside of her. She could distinctly sense koukai keeping up with her from behind and even fainter the sound of varies stumbling after her. Sierra twisted her head around struggling to follow the sound of the voice before she heard the same strange ethereal voice speak up again stronger and clearer than before.

'This...w..ay..ple...ase'

she felt something feral almost take over as she ran to the left of her, bare feet pushing her faster. Her mind urging her to move faster, to get to the voice quicker, to reach them before it disappeared from her.

"Sierra! H-hold up!, shit! Sierra! Where are you even going?!"

She barely even registered varies's voice as she kept up her steady pace following where the voice came from. Then she broke free from the trees and ran out into a large wide open clearing. The hybrid slowed down her eyes widening as she took in the sight of treeless area surrounding her. She breathed heavily, her chest taking in deep lungfuls of soft clean crisp air as the sky slowly became darker and bright speckles of far distant stars twinkled brightly.

"Oh for ancients sake Sierra! Will you please tell me why your runnin...g?"

Varies called out as she finally broke through the trees behind Sierra, the daemon breathing heavily as she leaned onto her knees to take in deep breaths of air. Violet eyes finally opening and taking in the sight of the clearing.

"Oh...that's why"

Sierra nodded subconsciously as she walked towards the center of the clearing. The voice called out to her again from the ground below her feet.

'Wak..e ...us up pleas...e'

she watched as the blades of grass around her feet seemed to flourish slightly, some of the small blades even curling around her toes and growing up over her feet to reach her ankle and gently wrap around it.

"I will."

She finally spoke, her words breathless even though she felt surprisingly okay after all of her running through the trees. She kneeled onto her knees, feeling the soft grass even through her jeans. She gently glided her hands over the grass letting herself touch the grass before she finally closed her eyes and focused onto where exactly the voice was coming from. Sierra gasped slightly when the voice came again and with each word it spoke she could feel its breath ghosting over her arms and bare feet.

"I'll help you."

She spoke up again louder as she felt herself dig her fingers underneath the gras and into the rich soil below the plants. Fibrous roots and the faint sensation of tiny insects crawling in between her fingers made her shiver at first before she shut her eyes tighter and tighter as she struggled to focus on the sensation swelling up inside of her. It started in her stomach at first, a warm tingling energetic feeling before it spread from her stomach to the rest of her body. Enveloping her in an odd sensation that made her giddy with joy. She felt at peace with everything around her in that moment as she focused more on that energy inside of her before she tried to force herself to make the energy leave her body and into the earth below her. She grew frustrated at herself at first before she took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly. She could hear everything around her slightly but it was muffled as if she wasn't out in the open field around her but instead.

'I'm in the ground'

she realized as she could see shapes and forms around her from behind her closed eyes. She tried breathing in slowly but felt claustrophobic in that moment. Everything felt closed in on her and was only pressing more and more onto her until within all of the odd shapes and sounds Sierra had been hearing a song began to ring out around her. The violent shaking her body had been going through slowly relaxed and left her body as she felt a sense of peace overcome her. The song that surrounded her had a strange foreign tone to it but no words whatsoever in it. It was only made up of whistles and high pitched chirps along with a deep low thrumming that seemed to resonate with the hybrid in a way that made her very soul ache painfully. Sierra felt her palms heating up slightly as she finally was able to release the strange thrumming energy from her body and into the ground around her. She felt connected in that moment and disconnected at the same time, almost as if she was being held together tightly and yet too loosely all at once. She finally opened her eyes as something began to build up inside of her. The hybrid gasped loudly as she was welcomed to the sight of a dark empty void around her. Small pinpricks of starry light slowly beginning to shine around her before they eventually grew brighter and brighter. Slowly overtaking the dark empty void around her with bright searing light that seemed to burn her from the inside out. Sierra opened her mouth to scream out in pain but instead the very same song that was still surrounding her spilled from her lips. Her mouth and throat contracted and breathed with the song and she looked down at her hands and took in the sight of the bright starry sight below her. The dirt she had her hands in was still dark but she could see and feel the life in it. The life that thrummed in the very earth below her, from the very microscopic bacteria and cells to the giant clusters of what she could tell were some kind of stone or seeds. She sang louder and louder as she took in the sheer expansive sight around her, before she finally felt the rumbling of the ground of something beginning to erupt from the very ground. She took in the sight of vines and thin saplings and several other plants sprouting with one another, intertwining into each other.

'Guide them'

a gentle voice echoed in her mind, the phantom sensation of a pair of gentle hands gently holding her own as she watched the plants growing before her.

'Home, me and varies need a house.'

Sierra reminded herself as she stared harder at the plants, color slowly bleeding back into her world instead of the surreal monochromatic world she had been seeing prior.

"Sierra!"

Varies's voice rang out and Sierra struggled to stay focused on guiding the plants to form the structure before her. She was still singing though it had become softer and more maternal almost as she guided the plants to take the shape of a large cottage. More and more plants sprouted from the ground and bended and intertwined with the others as the form of the cottage began to grow into a much clearer shape before them.

"Is that a house?"

Sierra didn't reply and instead forced herself to stay focused on the plants still growing before her. Eyes burning, palms hot, and her throat quickly growing sore with her singing; but she forced herself to keep going. Guiding the plants to take the shape of the mental image of a home in her mind. Eventually when she felt her job was done she stopped singing and slowly pulled her hands from out of the ground, her hands caked in dirt and torn grass. Her body sagging in relief as she quickly grew exhausted, eyelids tired and her limbs heavy with exhaustion.

"Holy shit..."

she mumbled quietly as she took in the sight of the cottage before her.

It was an average sized house, one story tall, a front entrance and all the simplistic aura of a normal home. Aside from the fact that the very building was literally built from the ground up.

"Sierra! Are you alright?"

Varies's voice spoke up behind Sierra as the sound of the daemon rushing to kneel beside the hybrid just as sierra's body chose to finally go limp from exhaustion. Varies's concerned face came into view and Sierra couldn't help smiling dumbly up at her.

"Hey there cutie you come her often?"

She drawled out tiredly even as Varies frowned at her words, chuckling slightly as if exasperated at the hybrids words and actions.

"Sierra be serious please, you look like a university student who's been awake for so long that they forgot what the concept of sleep is."

The daemon said dryly as she moved her arms underneath the hybrids body before lifting her up from the ground. Sierra giggled tiredly at the daemon's analogy, her eyes sliding away from the daemon to look over to where koukai stood before her , his wet brown eyes warm with concern and relief to see that she was okay. He chirped brightly at her before he nuzzled at her face and licked her left cheek making the hybrid giggle louder at the sandpaper sensation on her cheek.

"Koukai, your such a lil cutie."

She spoke up her words slurring slightly a strange chirp intermixed with her words as she spoke.

"Good gods your so out of it"

varies spoke up again as she righted herself up onto her feet with Sierra in her arms.

"I am notttt!"

Sierra whined tiredly squirming slightly in the daemons arms before she relaxed back into them. The long haired daemon made a concerned look before she began to walk towards the cottage that the hybrid had made. The sight of the building completely made out of plants made the daemon hesitate slightly before she steeled herself and finally reached for the door with one hand while she still held onto Sierra as best she could with her other. The door opened before her hand even came into contact with it,

"Ah!, oh...okay then"

varies muttered to herself as she carried Sierra into the house, poppy and Derek on her horns and koukai following close behind.

"Huh, wasn't expecting it to be this well, uh? Well furnished?"

Varies said as she took in the sight of the inside of the cottage. It was warm and welcoming even as the door closing shut behind her gave her a deep sense of unease.

"Course it is, I made it after all!"

Sierra said brightly, even as her her eyes dimly glowed that bright blue like before. Varies held back a nervous chuckle at the dirty blondes words.

"So you did...how exactly did you make it anyway?"

Varies asked confused at the sheer detail inside the cottage. Their were two large windows on either side of the front door, each a clear amber-like substance; then was the door itself, it was completely made out of plants that had weaved themselves together and even had deep grooves all along the edges of it, almost looking like it was carved into the wood. Then was the rest of the home; large bundles of what Varies's could tell were large fist sized rocks that seemed to glow brightly hung from the ceiling. Held together by what looked like vines and fibrous roots weaved together into an odd net of some kind. The daemon felt genuine confusion at the sight around her, she scrounged inside her mind for any information she had been taught about magi's. Anything that would help explain the miracle that was around her made by a newcomer to the very planet. She was startled when sierra's tired voice spoke up again in that tired lazy drawl it had gained.

"I don't fucccckin know fam?, all I know issss that I was hearin' some magical voices calling me and boom! I'm in the clearing and all's I know is I gotta wake up some plantss."

Varies can feel the look of awkward bewilderment forming on her face at Sierra's words. She doesn't know how to respond to the others words before she hesitantly decides to nod in hesitation. Unsurprisingly enough to her that seemed to be the right thing for her to do.

"So I go ahead and jussst go with the flow and shove my hands into the dirt cause I really gotta wake these plants up"

Sierra pauses before she continues on explaining to her as if varies herself hadn't been standing mere feet away from her when she did promptly 'shove' her hands into the dirt. Something varies had been confused by, but now that the hybrid was explaining it seemed to be something that magi's were well known for.

"So then I did it and uh..."

a yawn interrupted Sierras words as she struggled to stay awake. Dark circles visible under her eyes, the dull blue glow nearly extinguishing itself in the twin pools of tired blue green hazel eyes of the dirty blonde.

"Alright I think it's safe to say that you're done for the night."

Varies said with a tone of finality her only response she got from the other woman in her arms was a low whine that slowly devolved into a single word of agreement.

"Noooooooofinnneeeeee!"

The daemon couldn't decide weather to be happy or annoyed with the way things were turning out for their small group. She relaxed and walked deeper into the cottage that Sierra had created, taking in the warm and homely feeling of the building. The first room seemed to be a joint living room that opened out to the rest of the house, leading to the large kitchen and what she figured was supposed to be a dining room. Than there was the only hallway that she could see, it was placed on the right wall and from what she could tell was lined with several other doors which may have led to other rooms. She forced herself to inhale a shaky breath before she forced herself to walk down the hallway, flinching when one of the doors closest to her opened soundlessly leading to a large bedroom.

'It's fine relax girl, it's just a house made entirely out of plants and is probably being controlled by Sierra unconsciously but that's fine.'

She tried to reassure herself as she hesitantly walked into the bedroom. Her eyes wide and nervous as her ears struggled to hear any other sounds other than the calm breathing of Sierra sleeping in her arms along with the slow relaxed breathing from the two pik pik birds resting on the daemon's horns. She startled slightly when she was head butted slightly on her side. Her mind briefly going into panic before relaxing when she took in the sight of koukai looking up at her with those same watery brown eyes as before.

"What?"

She spoke up stiffening up as the Minerva continued to stare up at her, as if waiting for a response.

"If your trying to scare me or something it's not going to work."

Another blank stare along with a slight wag of the large dog sized Minerva's tail.

"Will you please stop staring at me like that?, I mean it's not like I'm doing anything wrong or anything, I'm just going to lay Sierra down in bed and I'll probably go sleep in the living room or something."

Again no response from the Minerva aside from a small huff out of his nose before he finally stood up and nudge her closer to the strange moss bed in the middle of the room. The bed was pressed up against the wall and seemed to be made entirely out of foliage of some kind or another. Varies was quick and gentle as she placed Sierra's sleeping form onto the bed before quickly laying a blanket over the others form. She had been grateful for remembering to pick up some blankets from another store before she had went to kanaya and rose's store. She stared at the sight of Sierra curling into the blanket and smiling in her sleep. She smiled down at her, taking in the way her long straight dirty blonde hair and dyed purple hair seemed to frame her sleeping face near perfectly.

'She looks so calm when she's sleeping.'

The daemon thought as she straightened herself up and carefully nudged poppy and Derek off from her horns and onto the soft bedding that was farthest from the sleeping hybrid. They jolted awake and chirped in protest briefly before the two nestled into the moss bedding and slept up against one another.

"Alright you fluff ball time to help you get up on the bed I guess."

She said glancing down at the Minerva that was already leaping onto the bed before she finished her words. She flinched at the motion at the oncoming loud squawking that would definitely be coming from the two birds. She opened her eyes and blinked in surprise at the lack of loud obnoxious squawking and looked up to see that koukai was instead nestling himself up behind Sierra a low crooning sound coming from him as he settled down onto the bed. She sighed before making her way to the living room, already uncaptchaloging a blanket and some of her spare clothes.

"Alright then, good night I guess?"

She didn't get much of a response aside from a low churr from koukai and the soft peaceful breathing of Sierra.

Varies was quick to gently close sierra's door and change out of her clothes and into her spare clothes she had on her. When the daemon was finished she took in the sight of the strange couch that had sprouted from the ground up with the house. She hesitated before she slowly sat onto the couch, sighing in relief as she felt the soft moss like cushions sink slightly underneath her weight. The couch felt cool and comfortable to the touch as she slowly began to settle herself down and watched as the glowing rocks hanging on the ceiling slowly dimmed their lights as if aware that they needed to become darker. Varies struggled to relax and allow her body to fall asleep as she felt out of place inside the cottage that Sierra had made. Though somehow either from how exhausted she had been emotionally, mentally or even physically she managed to fall asleep. Falling asleep deeply and unaware of the small glowing specks of lights that lit up all around the house and floated about as if they were lighter than air. The small flickering of lights growing more clustered down the hallway until they reached the room Sierra was asleep in. Where hundreds of the small glowing lights flitted above her and everywhere in her room. A single set of watery dark brown eyes were open still and watching the sight of the lights floating in the room calmly before they two slowly closed and settled back beside their sleeping owner who was smiling softly in her sleep.


	20. Chapter 19: Ch-ch-ch-changes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's been a month since sierra has first arrived to connection and had many aspects of her life change very quickly. she has a house now and lives with varies and several of the many new animals that she has befriended and cares for. while varies leaves for four days for a work trip sierra relaxes with a friend of varies's named Aalva. a tall leopard seal monster that is gentle and very motherly to her, almost too gentle. sierra reflects on many of the changes that have happened to her life over the past month and wonders where the next five years will lead her too. meanwhile a mysterious figure finds the very person they've been looking for in sierra.

Gentle sunlight filtered in between the single set of purple and gold lined curtains that covered the large single set of windows that was above the large king sized bed covered in a light blue and white striped comforter and far too many stuffed animals, pillows along with the large assortment of smaller blankets. The large form that was curled up underneath the comforter moved slightly as the sound of several birds chirping slowly roused her from her sleep. It was slowly at first, the sheer amount of soft items covering the bed being pushed away as the large blanket covered form rose up and stretched out her arms, a loud yawn slipping from her lips as the young woman woke up. Sierra opened her eyes groggily, the comforter slipping off of her body and back onto the surface of the bed. Another yawn came from her as she rubbed at her face with one hand before she reached for where she remembered placing her bottle of water among the stuffed animals and pillows the night before. Smiling slightly to herself when she finally grabbed ahold of the flexible dark fuchsia plastic sports bottle; she had been given nearly five years ago by her mother. The brand's logo long since worn away on its side from use and time. The dirty blonde brought the bottle up to her mouth and took a swig of the still cool water from the bottle before she finally began to make her way off of the bed. Being mindful of the large bulldog sized furry and feathery lump that was koukai's still sleeping form. Sierra sat on the edge of her bed smiling gently at the feeling of her newfound magic slowly filling her form. An exercise that Monica had told her to do sometime during the second week since Sierra had made her and Varies's new home.

'It'll help you get better used to the new changes happening with your body as you go through your first pupation stage. So I'd advise you to do it at least twice a day okay?'

She still didn't know what to think of the elf magi hybrid but she could get the sense that she didn't really care for what happened with Sierra. Something that the hybrid took for annoyance or something else that was in that area of emotion, Sierra wasn't too sure. She stretched out her back with a loud crack of bones popping and joints waking up, a sigh of relief escaping from her lips as she felt the tension in her body seep away.

"Good morning koukai"

she mumbled out as she grabbed her ring and phone off of the window sill they had been set onto the night before. The only response she received from the Minerva was a huff as he slowly opened his eyes and raised his head slightly to watch her cross the purple carpeted floor to the small walk in closet she had in the room. She smiled at the huffing sound as she grabbed ahold of the clothes she was going to change into after the shower she was currently planning on taking.

It had been about three weeks since Sierra first came to the capital and made the house she and varies had been staying in since then. Many things had changed since her initial arrival to connection. Aside from the obvious learning that she wasn't completely human, she had also learned a great deal more about the newer part of her being. Magi's and what exactly they were well known for. Some of the things she had learned from scouring the many books varies had managed to 'borrow' from her brother; The violet eyed daemons words not hers. She had spent hours soaking up every little bit of information she could gain about the planet and its unique inhabitants, and even more to copy hundreds of notes and dozens of drawings of the information in one of the dozen composition notebooks she had grabbed back during her last day on earth. She had been feverish in her copying of the information, almost terrified that one day she'd wake up and be back on earth living her simple day to day life like she had been for the past 21 years of her life.

'But now it's different.'

She told herself as she grabbed ahold of her light teal long sleeved shirt and a pair of gray sweatpants, that already were becoming well worn. She was quick to grab a pair of socks and undergarments before she swiped up two towels and finally made her way to the bathroom that was across her room. Koukai waking up more as she tossed the first set of things she'd need for the shower.

"Maybe I should take a bath instead?"

She muttered to herself uncaring if anyone heard her doing so. She blinked at that thought quickly grabbing her phone and checking the time,

"what time is it anyway?"

She said aloud again as she brought the screen up to her face, a habit from when she still needed to wear her glasses. '10:31 am' the screen read, along with the near countless notifications from all of the apps she had on the device.

"Huh guess I woke up on my own again"

she spoke to herself again before she pocketed her phone back into the white shorts she was still wearing from the night before. She made her way back into her room again and went about grabbing her extra supplies for the bath she was planning on taking now, a mental checklist forming in her head as she imagined the typical spa days she would give herself when she had a day off from work and was feeling up to it.

'Laptop, bathbombs, body lotion, body spray, razor, hairbrush, shit what else?'

She thought to herself as she gathered what she needed into her arms, Koukai watching her move about from where he laid on the large lilac dog bed that Sierra had gotten for him during one of her rare trips with varies into the marketplace. Said trips were getting rarer and rarer since the daemon was returning to her old work schedule, something that Sierra was hesitant in admitting made her feel a familiar gnawing loneliness. But the hybrid managed to push through the feeling by distracting herself with inviting Taz and her friends over, along with occasionally inviting rose or kanaya over for tea. Then there were the dozen other things she would do to fill her time alone, she'd take care of koukai and poppy and Derek's growing clutch of eggs; Something she hoped would be a joy filled experience whenever the eggs finally did decide to hatch. She drew, worked on filling her journals full of everything thing she could learn about the planet, tended to the garden that was out in the back of the house, cleaned the house up if it was needed, plenty of things for her to do really. Though she really looked forward to whenever aalva would come by to help Sierra practice in using her staff. The large leopard seal monster was apparently another friend of Varies's, and had even helped the daemon train for the job she had now. Something Sierra respected the monster for already.

She shook her head to get her mind away from the train of thought that she was beginning to go down. She smiled to herself as she finished grabbing the last few things she felt she needed for her 'spa day' before she finally made her way to the bathroom again and began setting everything up. She began to fill the tub up, testing the water's temperature until it was warm to the touch. The bathroom was one of the simpler rooms of the house, not that dirty blonde was complaining any. It was large white room that had a white and light blue tiled floor, that varies and her had put down themselves during the second week living in the cottage. Sierra still had to force herself to not think too much about the inner workings of the home though, as she plugged her laptop into the outlet that was beside the white porcelain sink, before making sure to set it onto the closed toilet. She had asked varies once already about the electricity and plumbing, and all she got out of it was that the house somehow magically took care of it. An answer that didn't really satisfy her all too much, nor did it really make much sense. The energy had to have come from somewhere, and the water? Well the water had to be coming from something too. She decided as she booted up her laptop that she'd have to play her 'complete bullshit' playlist she had saved on there.

'Truly I must have the most original names for the playlist's on my computer.'

She thought to herself as she unwrapped a purple and blue bath bomb that smelt strongly of lavender and some other type of gentle floral scent that she couldn't put her finger on. She shrugged and tossed the bathbomb into the slowly filling tub, glancing occasionally from where she sat on the rim to watch it fizz away in the water. The water gaining a light purple and blue tint to it. She smiled warmly at the sight before she went about getting ready for the bath.

Shaving and undressing quickly before she finally turned off the water and eased herself into the warm water, her body relaxing as she soaked in the warm liquid heat around her, a soft content sigh slipping from her lips as she closed her eyes and rested her head on the back rim of the tub.

'This is exactly what I needed'

she thought to herself as soft music from her laptop played as she sunk lower into the water before dunking her hair into it. She allowed herself to relax for a while until the water slowly began to grow cooler than she quickly washed herself. Shampooing her hair and conditioning it with some of the cheap soap she had gotten back on earth. Before letting it set and scrubbing herself quickly and throughly. By the time she was finished washing her hair, her fingertips had gotten pruny and her body felt relaxed and free of stress. She dried herself off and dressed as quick as she could, spreading lotion onto her legs and arms before she did.

"And there we go!"

She chirped out happily as she tossed her dirty laundry into the large white plastic basket she had gotten back on earth. She quickly put all of her things up before setting her laptop up onto her bed and finally in her socked footed glory slid into the hallway and down to the living room.

"VARIES!!!"

She called out smiling widely as she skidded to a stop in the room, before she frowned at the lack of a response and glanced around the front room of the house looking for the wild haired violet eyed daemon. She sighed when she didn't see her,

"dang she must have gone to work already."

She muttered quietly to herself as she looked around her eyes spotting the small folded piece of paper that laid on the small wooden coffee table that they had gotten back during the first week of living in the cottage.

'Huh guess she left me a note again.'

She thought to herself as she carefully picked the paper up and opened it reading the carefully handwritten note the daemon had left for her.

'Dear Sierra, I will be gone for the next four days due to me being needed in another sector to help train some of the future general's in training that a good friend of mine asked me to to do a few years back. Aalva will come by occasionally while I'm gone to drop off some food supplies and necessities that I asked her to pick up for us. I'll call you when I make it to the other sector.

~from varies'

Sierra sighed again softly at the note, folding the paper back up carefully before she tossed it back onto the coffee table. She heaved out another sigh before she tossed herself onto the couch behind her, frowning softly in annoyance as she sunk comfortably onto the plush couch. Varies had replaced the couch and loveseat with 'real' ones, saying how the ones Sierra had made with the house had felt too alive for her. The hybrid of course being the pushover she was allowed the other to replace them with a forced smile on her face all the while. She sighed again

'well I can't exactly blame her none, she isn't as well attached to the plants like I am.'

She thought to herself reluctantly before she stretched herself out on the plush worn couch. Varies had bought it off of rose and Kanaya who were glad to give someone their old unused furniture. The dirty blonde wasn't not grateful for the furniture that was for sure, she just....felt hurt because Varies's hadn't liked the ones she had made before. She sighed again,

'well at least it hadn't been too hard to add them to the roof.'

She thought to herself a small smile at the memory of how she had made the plants making up the couches unravel and weave into the ceiling and roof outside to help reinforce it. Varies had been unnerved at it of course, even making a joke about how the house felt during that moment as if it was breathing around her. Sierra had only laughed it off before reassuring the daemon that the house wasn't going to swallow her whole or anything. The only response she had gotten at that had been a look of slight horror and annoyance. She smiled at the memory before she whistled out to the several animals that lived in the house now. It had been a short noted whistle, a single note lasting for a few seconds before it went deathly silent. She sat up waiting for the cacophony of wings flapping, claws scrabbling across the walls and floor, and loud chittering of several dozen creatures of varying shapes and sizes. It was silent then it began with the loud cooing and chirping of poppy who flapped his wings and flew to her outreaching hand landing onto her index finger. Trilling happily as she brought him up to her face and nuzzled her cheek up against him. Then came koukai's loud churring as he languidly came down from the hallway and towards her his tail wagging happily. Then slowly at first she heard the sounds of claws scratching against wood and carpet as two thin burnt orange and yellow furred ferret like rodents came out from the small hole that was closest to the front door in the wall. They chittered and squeaked loudly as they rushed towards her as quickly as their four paws could let them. Their long lanky body's thin like a snake or a ferret, and their tails long and tipped with a tufft of fur that looked almost like a leaf of some kind. She hadn't quite figured out yet what they were yet but she didn't worry too much about it as she reached a hand down towards them as they approached her. Then came the near dozen tiny high pitched peeps from behind the couch and the sound of tiny clawed feet scraping against the wooden floor of the kitchen. Those she knew what creature's they belonged to unlike the two thin ferret like critters that were now curled around her wrist and fingers. She leaned back and watched the several dozen inch tall light gray and white horned black eyed mini-me's run up to the back of the couch and peeped up at her excitedly. Sierra smiled down at them and after gently coaxing poppy onto her shoulder leaned her left hand down to them and allowed them to climb up onto her. The several dozen tiny furred hands gripping her own made her chuckle almost as she slowly lifted the dozen mini-me's off of the ground. She smiled warmly down at them watching as they began to shapeshift slightly taking on different small details about herself. Varies had explained to her after she had shown the daemon the tiny shapeshifters that mini-me's weren't really the best at the task. Only capable of shape shifting to a smaller version of the thing it shapeshifted into. So soon within a matter of seconds Sierra had a good dozen of inch tall versions of her sitting in the palm of her hand. Quite a few that looked almost exactly like her but not quite there yet. Most still had their tiny round black eyes, and quite a few hadn't gotten her hair color right either. The dirty blonde couldn't help cooing at the few purple haired mini-me's in her hand. She loved the little shapeshifters to bit's and had even gone so far as to begin making a small wooden home for them to live in. She had started on it almost a week ago but she was already halfway finished with the small project.

"You guys are just too cute to handle I swear."

She said cheerfully as she laid out her legs across the couch and allowed koukai to lay on top of them when he finally jumped up onto the couch. The Minerva churring happily before he settled down content with his spot.

"You are such a dork y'know?"

She asked him a warm smile on her lips as she spoke, she chuckled when she only received a huff from the Minerva in response to her light teasing. She sighed content leaning back and resting her back against the arm of the couch before she carefully settled the mini-me's onto her stomach and the two ferret like creatures with them. She watched them her eyes lidded as she enjoyed the gentle warmth that filled the entire cottage. She felt truly content in that moment, happy to simply lay there on the verge of taking a nap, surrounded by life of all kinds. She yawned her eyes growing sleepy before she finally rested her hands on her chest and closed her eyes, allowing herself to take a small rest before she went about the rest of her day.

Dreams were an odd thing for her, Sierra knew that for certain. They only became stranger and more surreal as she grew older and more mature. Strange machinations of her subconscious creating twisted versions of story's she had read or heard the day prior in the waking world. Despite her past experiences with less than pleasant dreamscapes she still enjoyed it whenever she did remember a dream she had experienced. The rare few she could recall were always interesting for her to analyze or talk about to her few friends that she knew were interested in hearing about them. Hannah was one of these friends of course, Sierra and her would go on for hours about the hundreds of possible meanings for their dreams. Or they would simply talk about how odd they were for each other. Dreams of twisted versions of their childhood homes and odd events that would play out in them. Dreams like those were always interesting to experience, hence why Sierra was more than happy to realize when she was in one when her dream self was running from a crowd of strange wooden puppet people who were shouting at her for 'ruining the tea party' something she was definitely going to be confused about whenever she woke up later. She was quick to make herself run around a corner of the strangely desolate gray concrete city she found herself in. Pressed up against a wall and silent as she watched the odd puppet people run past her, watching the strange disjointed movements they made. Shining thin strings hanging above them lead up high into the surprisingly dark starless sky above. Though the sky was dark the area she was in was lit up as if it was daylight out. She didn't dare move until the puppets were long gone down the street they had went down. A sigh slipped from her lips as she pushed herself off from the wall and ran down the way she had came from before. Socked feet smacking hard against concrete and helping her to further distance herself from the strange twisted version of people that her subconscious had created. Her racing heartbeat ringing in her ears as she ran quicker and quicker down the street that seemed neverending. Gray bricked buildings, pale gray concrete sidewalks and Ichor black streets. The lack of color was beginning to wear at her mind as she forced herself to run faster and faster, ears ringing and lungs burning sharply. Soon a different color other than varying shades of gray appeared in the location. It was small specks at first before they turned into large splashes of the strange colored mess around her. Large splashes of bright ruby red, ocean blue and eye searingly bright yellow began to show up. Splashed about the street and sidewalks as if a murder had happened in the spots where the bright vibrant splashes of color were the most concentrated. She didn't stop running, if anything she forced her legs to move faster a lump forming in her gut at the sight of the bright splashes of color that remind her far to much of the images of a bloody scene where a murder had occurred. Ruby liquid spilling in an arc on the wall where the victim would be standing at mere moments before. A life silenced and unlit in an instant, the thought alone had Sierra screaming loudly in her dream. Her cry came out strangled and garbled as if she was being strangled though she didn't feel any sort of pressure crushing up against her throat. No sensation of her windpipe being crushed, nor her muscles twitching in a panicked state as she was gripped far too tight to be considered healthy for her body. More far too large splashes of vibrant color made themselves known as she ran faster, strangled screams ripping from her throat as her body began to burn and ache at the stress it was going through. Then she stopped, a sudden stillness caused by something that even Sierra couldn't even begin to explain herself. She froze completely before a scene that burned itself in her mind. A crime scene was before her, something she hadn't ever seen compared to the few pictures of a crime scene she would accidentally come across online and spend far too long just taking in the smallest details and thinking about how the event took place. About what emotions each person felt when whatever thin line had been finally crossed and the horrible violent event took place. How the murderer must have felt as they committed the act, and how the victim had to have felt as their life slipped away until they were gone entirely. The thought always haunted her, and she supposed to an extent it had also affected her subconscious. So much so that her mind created the horrifically violent scene before her. The more uncaring and analytic part of her mind already beginning to analyze the scene, while her emotional side screamed out in horror and fear.

As if someone decided to haphazardly splash different colored paints everywhere. Bright near eye searingly neon colors were nearly covering the area before her completely. Dozens of body's from the same puppet people laid before her, stretched out in a sprawled lifeless manner. each one covered a a myriad of paint that made the area smell strongly of copper and something else that was potent and foul. The puppets strings seemed to have been cut and laid strewn about them in barely visible spiderweb thin lines. A mess of confetti and streamers lied about the area, most dripping with the same copper scented paint and coming from the broken cavity's of the puppets. Then the image shifted from the surreal image before her to something more twisted. Bright neon paint replaced for a moment by a deep crimson red, streamers and confetti organs and bits of bone and teeth. Then the puppets were replaced for people. All of them laid out in the same manner, eyes open and glazed over dead. The two images of the scene began to change between the two slowly at first, than gradually picking up speed. A loud ringing echoing out with each change of twisted imagery. Sierra smacked her hands over her ears face twisting in pain and discomfort, heart aching as she quickly became overwhelmed with everything around her. She opened her mouth to scream and the loud piercing scream of a rabbit came out from her. the scream rang out around her, echoing over and over until it became a cacophony of sound. She could feel herself panicking slightly at the overstimulation of her senses. Sharp pain stabbed deep in her chest as she closed her eyes tightly the image still burned into her mind. She screamed again as she felt someone's hand rest onto her shoulder and she awoke with a violent jerk.

She screamed as she jerked herself awake, startling the many animals around and on her including the very tall dark brown and tan seal monster that had been the one who had gently shaken the woman awake in the first place.

"AHHHHHhhhhhh oh!"

Sierra blinked wildly the animalistic panic that had been clear on her face vanishing quickly when she finally caught sight of the monster's shocked and concerned expression.

"A-aalva! Sorry about that!"

Sierra quickly stammered out smoothing back her hair and giving the leopard seal monster a sheepish smile.

"It's alright Sierra! I suppose I took ya by surprise a bit."

The seal monster admitted in her thick almost Russian accent. Her large round bright emerald green eyes glimmering in understanding as she spoke.

"Messiahs how long was I asleep for anyway?"

Sierra muttered under her breath quietly, not really expecting an answer.

"Not sure but you were asleep when I came inside."

Aalva said giving the hybrid a patient smile as she watched the other blink awake more. Sierra sighed from out of her nose rubbing at her eyes with both of her hands before she spoke again.

"Damn I had the craziest dream lemme tell ya, craziest dream that I've had all week I swear."

Aalva chuckled at the hybrids over-exaggerated words, her laughter a warm and gentle rumble that bubbled like a small stream that the hybrid had once heard back on earth during one of her and Samantha's explorations of the area around the neighborhood their parents had lived in.

"I'd say, when I came in you looked like you were having a really bad one."

Aalva said a look of gentle concern on her face as she leaned down and helped pick up the several small creatures that were now chirping and skittering about wildly. The mini-me's calming down slightly as the leopard seal furred monster, picked them up in her large flipper like hands. Sierra sighed softly at the other's words, looking down at her own hands in her lap as she struggled to remember the events of her dream the best she could.

"It wasn't that bad I guess, just a really weird dream is all."

There's a brief pause from the hybrid before she continues while taking the mini-me's from the other's hands before placing them back in her lap. Poppy rubbing his beak up against her cheek as she does.

"Not like it's not normal for me to have dreams like that, but it's fine I don't even remember what it was about anyway!"

She spoke a bittersweet smile growing on her face as she calmed the animals before her.

"Alright if ya say so."

Aalva said her round emerald eyes shining with concern before it melted away.

"Well since your awake now, want to help me make some breakfast?"

Sierra smiled warmly up at the monster before nodding her head.

"Hell yes."

They decided that breakfast would be pancakes and bacon today. Koukai following the two of them closely in the kitchen, licking up whatever scraps fell to the floor as the two worked about cooking. Sierra laughing when some of the pancake batter landed onto the Minerva's leathery beak making him squawk briefly before he pawed at his beak wiping away most of the sweet batter.

"Guess I'll have to give you a bath later bud."

She said glancing down at the Minerva with a small chuckle. All she got in response was koukai snorting up at her before he butted his head against her leg a churr slipping from him. Aalva chuckled at the twos interactions as she laid out the strips of thick bacon onto the tinfoil covered pan before her. The two thin ferret creatures on either side of her shoulders watching her movements with curiosity.

"Hey so aalva I've been meaning to ask you for awhile now since varies doesn't exactly know everything about connection..."

Sierra trailed off slightly before she continued on looking at the two small ferret creatures with curiosity.

"What are these Lil' guys called?"

She asked as she carefully pet the head of the one on the seal monster's right shoulder, little chirps escaping the warm orange and yellow furred creature at the sensation.

"Ah! These lil ones are called autumn miglium's."

Aalva answered smiling at the hybrids question for the creatures. She quickly opened the ovens door and carefully placed the tray of bacon inside, the warm near oppressive heat of the oven's insides caressing her arms and bare flipper hands. She pulled away from the oven and closed the door quickly with a loud 'clank' that made Sierra flinch slightly but the seal monster didn't say anything at the sight. Varies had told her back before she met the other that Sierra had a less than pleasant past that involved a lot of loud yelling. Aalva hadn't bothered asking the daemon to elaborate on what she had meant by that, she knew that eventually Sierra would open up to her about her life back on earth and maybe even open up about the less than pleasant parts of it too. Either way the monster wasn't going to force the fledgling magi hybrid to spill the details if she wasn't ready yet.

'Things like this take time.'

Her grandmother had once told her when she was in college studying to become a teacher. The words themselves had been drilled into her mind and the meaning for them having long since made sense to her long after she had become a teacher.

"Hey ya know you can always talk to me about anything if you want?"

Aalva said giving the young hybrid a warm smile. Sierra blinked owlishly at her words before a glint of realization and comprehension shined in the other's eyes before something unexpected happened. Aalva watched the other carefully as the barest glint of trust shined in her blue green hazel eyes before being swallowed by hesitation and worry. The hybrid swallowed shallowly before she spoke an almost forced smile on her face as she gave the seal monster her answer.

"I- aalva thank you but I'm okay, I don't really have anything I want to talk about right now."

The seal monster would have believed the hybrid if it wasn't for the way her voice seemed to catch towards the end of her words. The slight tremble in her form, and the barest glint of fear in her slightly glowing eyes. Aalva knew the other was lying, but she wasn't about to force the other to spill out her thoughts and feelings this early in the morning. She instead gave the other a small nod and another warm and gentle smile before she placed one of her large flipper hands onto the other's shoulder before she spoke. Relaxing slightly even as she felt the other flinch slightly at the touch.

"Alright, it's fine. Just letting you know that if you ever need to vent about anything I'm always here for you."

Sierra slowly at first, blinked away the smallest of tears, before giving aalva one of the brightest smiles she had seen from the hybrid all day.

"Thank you aalva, I'll make sure to keep that in mind."

Aalva gave the other another one of her warm smiles that always seemed to relax the other before she pulled her hand away and spoke up again.

"Alright now lets make some pancakes!"

The seal monster couldn't help the warm smile that grew more on her face at the warm and bright laughter she got form the other.

The two of them ate at the living room table, Sierra curled up on the sofa with koukai curled up beside her. Nudging at her side occasionally to ask for a new piece of bacon or pancake. Sierra always chuckling slightly at the touch and quickly giving the Minerva bites of food as she would eat her own while she watched the holoscreen television that varies had set up earlier that week. Aalva sat on the other sofa watching the holoscreen with Sierra. It was part of the two's routine whenever aalva came in the morning. They'd make breakfast with each other and with varies the few times varies was still at the house when the large seal monster came by, talking with each other about most things many of which were the hybrid mostly asking countless questions about the planet. Then after that the two of them would watch tv while they ate. Sierra liked this part of the routine most in her opinion, it felt familiar and right. Just watching some mindless television for about an hour and a half before she had to get back to the real world. Then she and Aalva would start work on taking care of all of the animals Sierra had living in the house. Poppy and Derek's nest along with the house and other small homes for all of the small creatures and animals Sierra had living in the house. After that the two would finally train for a couple of hours, Aalva leading a small exercise regime to help the two of them stretch and gain some muscle strength as well as help Sierra get better adjusted to the new strengths her body had now that she was going through her first pupation stage. By the time the two would be done it would be around 1:00 and Aalva would have to get going for her job as a teacher. Something Sierra was pleasantly surprised with. She smiled unconsciously at the memory of her first week of knowing the seal monster and learning more things about the planet.

She hummed thoughtfully as her mind went off thinking about what Aalva had told her about the school system here in connection. School in most sectors started at 2:30 in the afternoon rather than in the early morning like the hybrid was used to. Then there was the confusing conversation she had with the other about what grade exactly she taught.

'So what grade do you teach?'

She remembered asking the other, only to gain a confused look from the seal monster.

'What?'

'Y'know, the grade you teach?, like is it kindergarten or second grade?'

'Oh!'

Aalva had chuckled softly at her words a look of recognition crossing over her face.

'I almost forgot that earth is different from here for a moment there!'

She had said for a moment a bemused smile on her furred face.

'Connection's education system works a bit differently than earth's.'

The seal began to explain, Sierra watching her with intense curiosity. Ready to pick up anything new about the planet and how their way of life worked.

'For each class there's two teachers, and both teachers help teach the class up until the students senior year of their high school education.'

'So you teach one class for twelve grades?'

Sierra asked curiously, in silent awe at the others words.

'Yes!, or at least until every student has graduated from the class. But the two teachers continue teaching their given classroom until then.'

'Wow so it's the same kids for their entire school life?'

Sierra has asked in awe at the implication.

'Yes!, it's so the teachers get to better understand the students and can better help them later on in their education.'

'Wow.'

Sierra had been impressed at the implication that Aalva had been teaching the same class for the past four years. Something that Sierra has to give her props for.

'The amount of patience she has for those kids has got to be phenomenal.'

She thought with a slight chuckle. Before she began to focus back onto what was playing on the holoscreen.

That was another new thing she was getting used to, the television here on connection was much more varied than back on earth. Entire channels dedicated to romance movies and shows, shows that were basically televised podcasts. The list went on and on, she almost couldn't believe it the first night she watched tv here after varies had gotten the holoscreen set up. The two had spent most of the day watching show after show, and movie after movie. Varies explaining and talking about each one as they played. Sierra liked it, it was a nice change of pace from what she had come to expect back on earth. She in particular loved the sheer variety for the animated shows the planet had to offer. One of which was playing right now. It was an odd one, something she hadn't completely figured out yet but it struck a cord with her. The small group of friends going around having adventures and exploring the forest they lived around made her smile. The name of the show made it even better for her 'evergreen valley' just the name alone made it sound peaceful to her. She felt relaxed and peaceful as she watched the three of the characters talk with one another as they walked towards what looked like an abandoned house that was covered in overgrown ivy and several other plants. Sierra felt safe, warm, full and comfortable. She yawned before she placed her now empty plate onto the coffee table. Koukai nuzzled at her side churring contently as Sierra slowly felt herself drifting off, her eyes lidded and face calm and still. She liked allowing her mind and body to just relax and settle like this, to allowed mind to drift off thinking about anything and nothing. Things like how everything back on earth was doing to the machinations of her body. How her lungs inhaled and exhaled, expanding full of air before deflating when she breathed out. Or how her body felt limp and fuzzy as if it wasn't truly there. She enjoyed these moments, quiet calm and almost serene. Then all to quickly the calm was broken.

"Alrighty ready to get started Sierra?"

Aalva's voice is gentle and feather soft even as it shatters the brief quiet calm Sierra had around her. The hybrid blinks up confused at the seal monster, her mind still trying to catch up with her surroundings. Then it hits her all at once.

"Oh!, y-yeah I'm ready!"

Sierra tried to not cringe at the slight voice crack that slips out into her words. If Aalva noticed it she didn't show any sign of it aside from giving her usual soft gentle smile that reminds the hybrid of her family back on earth. Aalva picks up sierra's empty plate and her own and makes her way to the kitchen sink.

"Alright let me go put these in the sink than we'll go check up on poppy and Derek's nest."

Sierra opens her mouth to speak, to try and convince the monster to let her be the one to handle the chore of doing the dishes. But from the two weeks of knowing the other, she knew by now that the seal monster was about as stubborn as her when it came to wanting to do something. The hybrid instead chuckled before she got up, koukai following her lead.

"Kay, I'll go ahead and check up on them then while you go do that."

She gets a sound of agreement before she heads into down the hall and into the room where all of her animals mainly reside in.

It was always calming for her to work with the small creatures that lived with her and varies. The way the creatures worked made sense to her, clicking together in her mind the same way two gears in a clock would. She could always depend on nature to stay roughly the same no matter where she was. Earth, connection it didn't matter to her. All that mattered was making the animals in her care happy and content with the life they were living. As she opened the already slightly cracked open door she was bombarded with the sights and sounds of the animals and small creatures in the large open room she had made back during the first week of living in the house. Poppy and Derek chirping loudly to her from the small ground nest they had built at the foot of the small tree she had grown from the grass covered floor of the room. The top of the tree nearly touching the top of the large skylight she had made for the room with the help of varies. Thankfully they didn't have to worry about getting glass panes for it since it was mainly made out of clear sap and trees branches that had stretched across to help hold the makeshift skylight together. The inside of the room was full of foliage and life, the walls of the room covered in ivy and flowering vines. a few large rocks were smattered across the dirt and grass covered floor, moss growing on a few of them. even a small lux arbor tree grew in the room, grown from the very flower she had gotten from the tree she had seen weeks ago. The wood of the rooms wall had a few small golf ball sized holes where the autumn miglium's had made there burrows and nests in. The mini-me's were nestled in one of the few finished hanging dollhouses that Sierra had made for them, a long hanging latter hanging from the opening's of them and reaching the top of one of the two bushes she had growing in the room. The room had only one piece of furniture and even then it in itself wasn't really 'manmade' like normal furniture. It was just a short end table she had made from the plants again.

Something she was proud of being capable of making, though she always felt hesitant in making the plants weave themselves into something as simple as a piece of furniture. Even if every time she asked the plants for their thoughts of feelings on it they seemed more than content to do whatever she asked of them. The thought alone always unnerved her but she would be soothed by the sensations of togetherness she would always feel from the plants that made up her and varies's home. The feeling alone easing her anxieties about the possibility of forcing the plants to move however she wanted them to. Just another thing on the ever growing list of changes her body had went through that she would have to get used to. Her new ever present glowing eyes, increased metabolism, and the 'sessions' her body would go through with painfully rejecting her old 'human' organs before being replaced with the new tougher ones of a magi hybrid. She cringed at the memory of the last time it happened. Her stomach unconsciously churning at the memory of her body burning and the strong smell of copper and bile filling her nose. Sierra gagged slightly before she forced herself to push the memory away and focus back on the room before her. She walked carefully to where poppy and Derek sat in their nest, the two pik pik birds trilling happily at the sight of them. The hybrid smiled warmly down at the two of them before carefully scratching the tops of their heads and watching them happily. Four weeks. Four weeks since she had first come to the planet. Four weeks since the party that had changed her and those close to her lives. She couldn't help feeling bittersweet at the realization that she would be here for five years before she'd go back to earth. A cold coil of fear twisted up in her gut at that thought, how much would she change while here? Five years was a long time after all. Would her friends and family even recognize her when she came back, or would she look far too different than she was before. Anxiety and fear was welling up inside her as her mind came up with imaginary scenario after imaginary scenario. Her family casting her out for coming back a monster, her friends terrified of what she would become. She didn't realize as her mind went down it's fear driven path that her body had went tense and her breathing quickened. Soon she was holding herself together trying to calm herself from the thoughts that were bombarding her mind.

'They'll leave me as soon as they find out that I'm not human anymore, they'll hate me and think of me as some kind of freak. I don't want to lose my friends!'

She screamed the part out internally in her mind, it echoing and bouncing back over and over and over again. She hardly noticed koukai when he had ran into the room and quickly went to her side. She was too panicked to register the Minerva as he rushed to comfort her. His head bumping up against her arm and shoulder quickly pulled her away from her dark thoughts. She gasped quietly her face wet with the deathly silent tears she had been crying before she glanced to koukai who bumped his head into her stomach carefully. She let out a quiet chuckle before hugging the large dog sized Minerva tightly, almost afraid that he would disappear if she dared to let go. The two of them were quiet, neither saying much of anything to one another through their mental bond they had; but neither of them seemed to care too much about talking in that moment either. Koukai was simply content to comfort the person who he was bonded to and Sierra, Sierra was more than content to soak up any comfort the Minerva was willing to give her. Minutes passed, her dark thoughts slowly fading away back into the dark abyss of her self hatred and anxieties before she finally let go and gave a watery smile down at the Minerva.

"Thanks buddy."

She said quietly before she hugged him again and wiped her eyes with one of her hands. Her smile grew as she felt the comforting rumble of his strange purr from underneath her arms and chest. It felt nice to listen to his quiet rumble. It reminded her distantly of her first pet cat she had gotten sometime after she had first graduated from high school. She had loved the sensation and sound of the tabby cat's rumbling purr and a few times she would occasionally put one of her ears right up next to their throat or mouth to feel the purr or hear it much better than before. A part of her knew it was an odd thing to do but it was something that just brought a lot of comfort to her and that's all that mattered to her. As if her had heard her thoughts koukai pressed his mouth up against her ear and she relaxed as she felt the tickling sensation of the Minerva's breath passing over her ear and the relaxing sound of his chirp-like purr. She hummed and nuzzled against koukai, her chest warm as she scratched behind one of his ears in thanks for his comfort. Eventually she pulled away from him and allowed him to rest his head in her lap, petting back his jackrabbit ears and his feathery crownlike crest. She was relaxed and much calmer than she had been before, breathing in and out calmly before she glanced around the rest of the room. Smiling as she caught sight of the strange flower she had grown back during her panic attack three weeks ago. It still looked as healthy and pristine as it had when she first grown it. She hadn't figured out yet what the species of plant it was yet but she hadn't tried bringing it up to anyone she had befriended here on connection yet. She wasn't even sure if anyone had noticed it yet, aside from the few times she had taken it with her. coiled around her wrist and it's roots inserting themselves into her arm and soaking up some of her magic. She wasn't really that worried if she found out what it was called or not, she just felt the need to keep it close to her and as healthy as possible.

She smiled at it and reached one arm out towards it; watching in wonder as it effortlessly reached up to meet with her hand to coil itself around her left arm's wrist and the hybrid flinched slightly as she felt the roots dig into her skin and flesh but she relaxed as she felt connected to the flower.

'Are you okay Sierra?'

Koukai's voice rang out through their bond, making the hybrid smile at the sensation.

'Yeah I'm better now, sorry if I made you worry.'

She replied back to him, sending waves of gratitude and regret back to him with her words. He huffed at the words before he licked at her face and nuzzled her.

'It's okay, I just was worried that you were having another panic attack is all.'

Koukai replied his tail wagging slightly behind him as he nuzzled her. Sierra sighed at the mention of her past panic attacks. The hybrid had been having quite a few since she had come to the planet, though she hadn't told varies about any of them.

'Don't want to make her feel guilty about them after all...'

She thought bitterly before she responded back to koukai.

'Yeah, I was getting close to having another one but thanks for worrying about me koukai. It really means a lot to me.'

The Minerva preened at her words and butted his head against her face again before churring up at her.

"Looks like koukai really seems in an affectionate mood today?"

Sierra snapped her head up to see Aalva standing in the doorway, a small knowing smile on her face as Sierra saw her.

"Heh, yeah he's a big ol' love bug today. Guess it's cause I'm kinda nervous today."

Aalva frowned slightly at Sierra's words before coming inside the room and shutting. The door slowly behind her, a look of concern briefly showing one her face before she sat down in front of Sierra. Emerald eyes glancing briefly at the flower around the hybrids wrist before looking back up to the hybrid's face.

"Why are you nervous?, I thought you'd be happy today?"

Sierra sighed briefly before leaning back slightly, her arms releasing their hold of koukai and allowing him to rest his head back onto her lap, as her arms rested behind her, fingers digging into the grass and dirt floor of the room.

"I'm nervous 'cause this is the longest I'll be by myself since coming here to connection!"

She gained a huff from the Minerva in her lap at her words.

"Sorry, I mean I'll be alone with my animals and koukai for four day's, and I know how great that usually goes for me."

She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply before exhaling and opening her eyes before continuing.

"I guess I'm just worried that I'm going to mess up or something if varies isn't here to make sure I don't lose my mind or worse."

The hybrid looked down at the ground beside her, she really didn't want to see the look the seal monster made at her words.

Aalva wasn't completely taken aback by sierra's words she was just a bit disheartened to see the magi hybrid show so much doubt in herself. Varies had told her that Sierra had low self confidence but she hadn't really seen that too much until now. The hybrid did have a good reason to be worried but to the extent she was, Aalva felt concern swelling up as she watched the hybrid look down at the grass beside her with embarrassment and a glimmer of uncertainty that was almost barely visible in her face.

"Sierra..."

She began softly, her emerald eyes shining warmly as she looked at the young hybrid.

"If Varies didn't trust you she wouldn't have felt comfortable leaving you here while she goes to work. If she didn't trust you she probably wouldn't have done a lot of things for you."

Sierra looked up at her, slightly glowing blue green hazel eyes watching the seal monster carefully almost afraid in a way. Aalva kept her gaze on the young hybrids face as she continued, her voice still as gentle and reassuring as before.

"I know varies trust's a lot more than you realize yet Sierra, and maybe you should believe in yourself too?"

Sierra's face scrunched up slightly in confusion before her eyes welled up just the tiniest bit before she blinked them quickly away. She took a sharp breath before slowly releasing it in a shaky exhale. Then she spoke.

"W-what? Why?"

Aalva tensed slightly at the question, she hadn't been expecting that response from the hybrid exactly. She gave Sierra a knowing smile before she continued on.

"You should believe in yourself because you yourself are worth believing in. I mean if you weren't worth it do you think koukai would have chosen so willingly to bond with you?"

Sierra glanced down at the Minerva who was still laying his head in her lap. The small confused smile that had been on her face deepened slightly before a sharp intense look of pain crossed over her features for only a brief moment. Aalva watched her concerned as the hybrid opened her mouth and seemed to struggle at first to speak before she finally spoke up, her voice cracking slightly at the end of her words.

"I-I guess not, I just h-haven't really cared to much about myself for a really long time."

Aalva gave the hybrid a sad smile at her words before suddenly Sierra found herself being enveloped in a strong hug from the large seal monster. She had stiffened up at first at the sudden touch before she relaxed into the comfortable hold. The hug was warm, soft and comfortably tight. Slowly at first Sierra returned Aalva's hug with one of her own, fingers curling themselves into the leopard seal patterned monster's angel soft light pink sweater she was wearing. Aalva rested her head on top of sierra's before she spoke. Her voice a gentle rumble that had sierra's chest aching with warmth.

"Sierra I may not have known you for that long but, just from the three weeks that I have gotten to know you. I know for a fact that you are worth caring about and if you yourself can't see that then maybe you need someone to tell you that you are worth caring about."

Sierra could feel the torrent of repressed tears swelling up inside of her. The urge to break down into the kind monster's hug grew stronger as the seconds passed, then Aalva's next words broke through the barrier.

"I don't know everything that you've been through back on earth or what your going through right now but know that you will always have me if you ever need someone other than koukai or varies to talk too."

Sierra felt genuinely loved for a brief moment before she finally allowed herself to shove her face into the monster's shoulder and finally let loose the tears that had been piling up for the past few weeks.

The quiet almost deathly silent sobs that barely reached Aalva's small ears made her soul twist in sadness. She held onto the young hybrid tighter as she felt her shoulder get wet from the young woman's tears that she was shedding. This was the first time she had ever seen Sierra cry, let alone sob like she was currently. Something about how silently the other was crying though....it rubbed her the wrong way. She had never seen anyone sob this quietly before. Concern swelled up in the leopard seal monster soul as she held onto Sierra and carefully petted the young hybrids hair back. She couldn't imagine how difficult it was for the hybrid. Having to leave her home planet, then adjust to both the new planet and her new status as a completely different species than the one she had thought she had been. Aalva felt empathetic for the younger woman and the difficult changes that she was currently going through. Changes that the monster herself doubted that even she would be able to go through without breaking down at least once or twice. Minutes passed by slowly, aalva calmly holding Sierra close to herself as the other cried quietly. Eventually Sierra pulled away wiping her face clear of the tears that she was still shedding.

"T-thanks Aalva, I really needed t-that..."

The young hybrid said, her voice still full of a deep pain that the monster couldn't seem to comprehend completely. Aalva ignored the growing concern she had for the other as she gave the hybrid a warm comforting smile.

"It's no problem Sierra, I'm happy to talk to you about anything if you ever want to."

Sierra gave her a watery smile at her reassuring words. Her dully glowing eyes bloodshot from her crying and her long hair just a bit messier than it had been before. A beat passed, the only sounds being the coos coming from koukai and the several different creatures Sierra had in the room, and the sounds of the hybrid sniffing from her bout of crying. Aalva was silent for a moment before she finally spoke up.

"Still wanna check on poppy and Derek's eggs?"

The seal monster asked tentatively almost worried that Sierra would get angry at her for her words. Instead she gained a warm chuckle from the other, before the hybrid began to laugh a warm smile spread across the others face.

"H-hell yes! Of course I want to check on their eggs still!"

Aalva smiled at the others newly regained joking tone. Her soul relaxing as Sierra gave her a warm smile and the two laughed with each other before the two of them got up and went about the rest of the day.

Sierra took another deep ragged breath as she quickly took up another defensive pose as she tightened her hold on her staff. Slightly worn leather pressed close against the slightly calloused palms of her hands as she watched Aalva carefully. The taller seal monster was holding onto her own weapon of choice with one hand. A staff of her own, though it was a foot longer and made out of what Sierra could think might have been white oak. The two watched each other intently, waiting for the other to make a move. Sierra was the first, her eyes trained onto the seal monster's torso. She lunged her staff forward, the metal end of her staff glinting in the early afternoon light. Aalva would be leaving in thirty minutes or so but the seal monster had reassured Sierra that she had enough time to practice using their strife weapon's before she had to leave. Aalva as quick as she always seemed to be moved away from the hybrids attack, her emerald eyes glinting in amusement at the others attack. The seal monster tightened her own grip on her white staff and pulled it upward from where it had been below in front of her legs. Sierra huffing a breath out of her nose when the two staffs clacked loudly against each other. The hybrid liked this change to her routine as well.

It was familiar to her, reminding her back during her middle school day's. When she, her brother and there next door neighbor would stick fight with each other. Comically long branches and sticks that seemed hysterically large in the three of theirs hold. It was a more simplistic time for the hybrid; a time where all she really had to worry about was her grades, visiting her dad, her stepfather, and playing with far to big sticks that would make most people hesitate in angering her while holding one. She could recall that out of the three of them she was the one that fought the best. She always seemed to pick the best sticks and if they broke it was from how hard her hits were. She rarely got hit, and even when she did it was hardly in a place that was vital. She was quicker than her brother and their friend and she felt content with her sticks that she would choose. How after hours of stick fighting one another the three of them would look at how there sticks had changed. Her's would usually get polished and would last the longest compared to the other two's. Drake's most of the time breaking first, than their friends than after the two had gone through about two more each her's would finally break. She had cared for each one of her sticks and she treasured each of them greatly. This was something she was good at, and that was one of the few things she was very proud of.

She let out another huff of air before she pushed back and held her staff like a spear before she cracked it down hard onto Aalva's. The seal monster surprised at the sudden move had rose her staff up to block the hit but hadn't expected the other's hit to make a loud snapping sound come from her staff. Sierra pulled back quickly at the sound, face creasing up in concern for the other's staff.

"Oh shit!, Aalva is your staff alright?"

Aalva looked over her staff at where the cracking sound had come from and balked at the large jagged crack that was now in the middle of her staff. It splitting the worn and well cared for white oak wood open enough to slide a coin or two inside of it. The seal monster looked at the sight surprised at the damage from sierra's hit.

"Oh dear..that's going to be difficult to fix up."

Sierra looked at the other's staff from behind her and flinched sucking in a harsh breath at the damage. Regret filling her immediately at what she did.

"Fuck, I-I'm so sorry Aalva I-I didn't mean to break your staff I really didn't! Please don't be mad at me! It was an accident really!"

"Sierra it's alright! It isn't as if you were trying to break it on purpose!"

Aalva reassured the hybrid that was still apologizing profusely for damaging the other's staff. Aalva sighed when Sierra looked down at the ground a remorseful look on her face and eyes shining wetly.

"Sierra look at me."

She waited for the other to look up at her, eyes still full of regret and far too much guilt for what had happened.

"It's okay, you're okay. I'm not mad at you I promise. Guess I underestimated how strong you would be hitting."

Aalva said quickly a slight chuckle at the end of her words, before she pulled out her holophone; yet another change in scenery that Sierra was still adjusting to. It was flat and foldable like a compact almost but when it opened up a holoscreen like most of the tech in connection would show up. The seal monster quickly opened it up and checked the time sighing as she took it in.

"Damn, didn't realize that thirty minutes passed that quickly."

She glanced at Sierra before sighing softly again at the look of realization that crossed briefly over the others face.

"Gotta head out?"

Sierra asked a small sheepish smile on her face as she spoke. Aalva sighed stretching while nodding.

"Yeah, sadly I got to head off Sierra."

The seal monster said before glancing at her staff again a soft amused smile gracing her lips at the damage on the strife weapon. Sierra followed her gaze her mind working quickly a plan forming on how she could make it up to the other for damaging her staff. A second passed before it clicked in her mind, she could fix it. She had her new ability to grow plants, all she had to do was maybe have some of her plants grow into the crack and meld themselves into the older wood.

'Do plants even work like that?, I mean why am I even asking a question like that I fucking made a house entirely out of plants after all! Of course I can do this!'

"Wait Aalva before you go can I take your staff? I'll let you take mine to work and I'll fix up your's!"

Aalva blinked owlishly at the other's sudden request before her mind finally registered the words Sierra had said.

"I...I don't know Sierra I really can just go home after work and fix it up myself it really isn't any trouble."

"Please Aalva. I promise that'll it'll be good as new by the time you come over tomorrow morning! I just I want to help is all."

Sierra gave the seal monster a begging look, her eyes bright and shining with hope and a determination that Aalva hadn't really seen to much on the other. Aalva looked at her then back at her damaged staff before looking back at the young hybrid before she gave in. Sighing in defeat.

"Alright fine, I'll let you fix it up."

Sierra smiles brightly at her words and took the offered staff carefully, holding it with a gentleness the monster hadn't been expecting from the other. Sierra was quick to hand Aalva her own staff, the seal monster blinking at how much heavier the other's staff was than she had expected. She put it up in her strife specibus before she gave Sierra another small smile.

"Alright then you be careful dear, I'll be back around 9 tomorrow you have a good day Alright?"

Sierra gave her a determined smile, nodding quickly before she spoke up.

"I will!, hope you have a great day at work Aalva!"

Aalva smiled at the other again before giving her a quick thought hug before pulling away.

"I will, I'll see you tomorrow Sierra"

Sierra waved to Aalva as the seal monster made her way out to the city of ah mandoiez. Soon the monster was out of sight and Sierra felt alone yet again. Koukai trotted up beside her from where he had been laying beside the front door of the house to nuzzle at the side of her right leg. Trilling softly up at her in an attempt to make the other smile. Sierra looked down at him before giving the Minerva a small melancholic smile before she leaned down and scratched behind one of his jackrabbit ears.

"Don't worry bud I'm gonna be okay....I just don't like being alone is all."

Koukai huffed up at her before he nuzzled hard against the palm of her hand. The dirty blonde haired woman chuckling at the other's antics.

"Come on you lil' dork we got a staff to fix before tomorrow."

The two walked to the front door unaware of the single set of bright green and pink swirled eyes watching the two of them carefully from deep within the trees. A smile spreading slowly on the figures face as they watched the young hybrid make her way inside of the house.

"I finally found you...."

Their eyes watched the door close narrowing them even more onto the dirty blonde haired woman who was now inside.

"Sierra, your going to help me so much more than you could ever think possible."

A moment later with hardly any loud snapping the figure was gone aside from the small wet puddle of black ink that was on the forest floor.


	21. Chapter 20: first pupation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> while Aalva is gone sierra goes about fixing up the seal monster's staff getting some help from her newfound bond with the plants around her. her and koukai go for a evening flight and relax at a new hidden place the two had discovered a while back and sierra learn's more about the finer details on what being a magi exactly entails. then back on earth brenna goes over the finer details of the night sierra left and the effects the party as a whole had on everyone there; and the effect it has on the family sierra left behind in more ways than one.

Sierra stared hard at the staff in her hands, her mind going a mile a minute. Several Ideas on how to fix the small crack went through her mind before rejecting a good majority of them. Ideas of sprinkling a couple seeds into the crack, or filling it full of sap and newly grown wood. Many of them didn't satisfy the young hybrid whatsoever. She sighed deeply as she wracked her mind for a good way to go about fixing the staff up without really replacing a good majority of it. The small tiny voices and the life force of the plants around her called out to her calmly and seemed to reassure her that she would be capable of finding a way to go about fixing Aalva's staff before tomorrow. Sierra closed her eyes and focused on how the plants would grow possibly into the older wood and mend it shut. Images of roots acting like sutures holding a deep gash shut.

'It won't work like that though, the plants won't be strong enough with just their roots alone, they need to also be strong enough to help prevent future cracks and possible damages.'

She thought with a small frown growing on her face. She sighed again at the thought, before she dug her bare toes into the grass and dirt covered floor of her indoor greenhouse. She felt herself become more grounded and attached to all of the plants and life around her. It felt familiar and comforting to her, like a heavy blanket covering her body comfortably. She allowed the plants around her to speak to her finally, mind filling with the strange soundless words of the trees, grass and flowers and many other plants growing around her. They were ready and at attention to help her whenever. She could feel it like a deep thrumming in her soul, mind and body. She finally spoke up speaking to the plants around her unaware of how her words had turned from her usual English to the same strange clicking and chirping music that she had spoken on the night she had first grown the house. But she understood her words clearly even if those around her couldn't.

"Give me ideas please"

She asked gently her eyes growing hotter as her connection with the plant life grew stronger than before. Her skin felt hotter than before almost as if she was keyed in on everything that was going on in her body's inner workings. She forced herself to stay focused.

"Please I need to fix this staff for a good friend of mine, she trusts me to fix it before tomorrow"

She opened her eyes taking in the sight of the strange all white scene before her, the only color's coming from the plants and forms of life around her. Her eyes burned comfortably as she watched the plants outline glow brightly at her words, taking them in and seemingly thinking.

"And by sweet mirth and rage I'm not going to break her trust anytime soon."

She finished determinedly looking down at the staff that was still in her hands, only a line of dark dull black in her vision from the fact that the wood was long dead but still had a barely there glimmer of life and infinite possibilities. Sierra gripped the wood of the staff tightly before she turned it to face one end of the staff towards the ground and the other to the ceiling. She lifted the staff up before she slammed it hard into the ground below, feeling the dirt and grass push out to allow the end of the staff to bury into the ground. She closed her eyes again tightly and moved one of her hands to wear the crack was and felt it. The sharp rough sensation's of split wood and fibers on her fingertips. She sighed out from her nose before inhaling a deep breath of air in, focusing on the life giving properties of it and feeling it provide her body with fresh oxygen and her lungs expanding with the large breath. She exhaled slowly feeling the carbon dioxide and stress leaving her body from her mouth to help provide nutrients and the air that the plants around her would need to live. She opened her eyes again and stared at the earth where Aalva's staff was buried and focused on the seeds buried in the ground, the small glimmers of starry life held inside of a small bead of a seed that was buried underneath dark and life providing soil. Sierra felt herself smile as the solution to fixing Aalva's staff finally clicked inside of her mind.

"Thank you"

She breathed out in her strange clicking and chirping song filled language that she seemed unaware of. Smiling in gratitude as she leaned down keeping one hand gripped around the staff as she placed her hand right over where she found the single seed that was buried in the ground that would help her fix the staff and even keep it strong for years to come. She felt thrums of life help push the seed upward towards her palm before she finally felt a small newly growing sapling pressed up into her hand. She closed her hand carefully around it and smiled as she felt a single seed covered in wet soil touch the plants of her hand.

"There we are, thank you for helping me get this lil seed."

She smiled down at the newly grown sapling as she picked up the seed and stood upright again, her eyes still burning brightly as she pressed the seed up against the crack and sent it a bit of her energy and soon before she knew it the seed was growing. Thin branches of white wrapped itself around the staff and the roots of it dug into the what would eventually become the old staff. It tightened itself closely around the old white oak staff before completely covering it up in newly grown white oak branches. Sierra watched the event color bleeding back into her sight as she guided the seed in its growing making sure that it didn't cover the intricately carved ends of Aalva's staff. Soon the seed was finished growing, wrapped around the middle of the staff completely and it roots weaved inside of the old damaged wood. Sierra waited a moment before she slowly pulled it out from the soil, small roots that had sprouted out the bottom of the staff seemed to retreat back into the staff and seemingly disappeared. She smiled warmly at the sight of the now fixed staff, gripping where the new wood was tightly and swinging the staff slightly to test it out, her smile growing at how comfortable the new wood felt against the palms of her hands.

"Nice"

She said smiling before she finally sat down and picked up the towel and small bowl of water she had gotten so that she could somewhat polish the wood when she was done. She sighed happily out of her nose as she began to clean the staff up and wiped it down rubbing the new and old wood that now made up Aalva's staff.

Sierra had decided that she would just have a couple hamburgers for dinner by the time 7:30pm rolled around. She made three, two for herself and one for koukai. The two of them were laid across one of the living room couches, Sierra's eyes trained on the holoscreen playing one of the movies she had bought back on earth at Walmart. The calming music of spirited away relaxed her as she lounged back enjoy the quiet of the early evening. She had done a lot in a day and that she was content with. She had hungout and made breakfast with Aalva, she had taken a bath, she had cared for and fed all of her animals and weighed poppy and Derek's three eggs; she had trained and exercised with Aalva, fixed Aalva's staff, made lunch/dinner for her and koukai and she was now relaxed and full watching one of her favorite studio Ghibli movies. She was fine, everything was fine. At least until she started getting itchy with pent up energy that still flowed throughout her body begging to be used. She sighed and grabbed the holoscreen's remote pausing the movie before she sat upright, gaining a whine from koukai who was laying in her lap the size of a lion cub.

"It's alright bud I just i dunno I wanna go do something outside for a bit, wanna come with?"

Koukai wagged his tail at her words before bumping his head up against her chin, churring loudly to her. Sierra laughed loudly at the Minerva's reaction before she picked him up and stood up from the couch holding koukai close against her chest. Her mind already filling with ideas for what she wanted to do outside.

"Hey koukai?, wanna go flying for a bit with me?"

The hybrid asked scratching at the back of his head making him coo happily at her words before he jumped out from her arms and rushed to the front door. Sierra laughed loudly at the Minerva's excitement before she herself made her way to the door, unlocking it before opening it and letting the now tiger sized Minerva to rush outside his long dark and light tanned tail wagging quickly all the while. She watched him briefly before she walked out closing the door and locked the door with her house key that Varies had gotten a copy for her after replacing the door handle with a real locking one. She still was only a tiny bit annoyed with Varies's odd fear of the house, she had worked fairly hard on it after all! Though the young hybrid understood that maybe nature to the extent that the house was may have not been Varies's perfect idea for a home. At that thought Sierra sighed quietly before she put the key up into one of her capthaloge cards. She would worry about talking to the daemon about that topic when the other was back from her job trip.

Sierra ran off after koukai who was rolling around happily in the grass chirping excitedly as he rubbed his back against the grass. She could only chuckle at the Minerva before she called to him as she readied herself for their evening flight. The only set of aviator goggles that she had in her possession uncaptaloged and held in her hands before she snapped them onto her face. Her long hair pulled over the back strap of the light purple goggles that taz had gotten for her after the two had last hungout last week and decided to go flying together. She still winced at the memory of Taz falling off of her back when they had first taken off and the small irken falling onto koukai's head while he was following behind the two in the air.

"Come on koukai! We got a flight to catch!"

Koukai whined loudly before getting up and readying himself beside her, his wings spreading wide as he lowered himself close to the ground before the two ran forward wings flapping and the two lifted up into the air. Sierra carried by the strange large almost barely visible light blue glowing pair of wings she had sprouting from between her shoulder blades. She had read that it was common for magi's and their hybrid's before they reached their second pupation stage to have faint glowing visages of their future wings show when they took flight. She whooped loudly into the warm early evening air as she took off higher into the air koukai not too far behind her, him echoing her cheer of joy with one of his own call of joy. Sierra smiled widely pumping her wings faster as she flew over the trees surrounding her home's clearing. Her eyes trained on how her little bit of home looked a few yards up in the air. She smiled warmly as she took in the mostly empty clearing as she imagined all of the things she could make grow in the clearing for her and varies. She dove down to glide a few inches above the treetops, allowing her fingertips to graze the leaves and branches watching as they perked up at her presence and touch, her one flower still around her wrist glowing slightly as they did so. She smiled at the flower and the slight thrum of energy she felt coming from the bloom of life around her wrist. After a few rounds around the clearing she took off again towards where she and koukai had found last week a small clearing with a small lake. It wasn't too far off from the clearing when flying but if she wanted to hike to it on foot it would probably take three or two hours at most but like this? When she and koukai just let themselves glide on the wind and air they could get their in less than an hour. She had already spent a good four hours there with him, just swimming in the pond and cleaning up the clearing as best she could. She wanted to hopefully show her and koukai's little hideout to varies one day. She could imagine it now, flying with the daemon in her arms as they flew in the air on a warm spring day to the pond. Sierra would land gently in the clearing and would tell varies how she had found it and how she had grown all kinds of flowers and beautiful plants in it just for her. The hybrid chuckled bashfully at the imaginary scenario, she couldn't help it if she had a weak spot for romantic getaways and scenery. Stargazing on a moon less night, small simple romantic dinners at home, tiny little things here and there that truly could make any moment magical. She loved romcoms but she wouldn't dare prefer them over her psychological horror flicks and the more subtle horror movies that she favored. She wondered if Varies would be okay watching a movie like silence of the lambs or maybe even the first alien movie? Her mind was rambling now wasn't it? She jolted out of her thoughts when she felt koukai bump his head up against her chin. Chirping happily as she laughed at his affection. She really did care a lot about the Minerva, he reminded her a lot of a cat she owned for a bit before she had moved out of her parents home the first time. He had been an adorable brown and tan tabby cat named Arthur. She loved him so much and still did to an extent but she had to give him away when she had first moved out. Something she still wished hadn't happened, she wished she still had him with her. How cute and lovable he had been, how he would at night come lay down on her chest and sleep with her. She still cherished the time she had spent with the cat, caring for him as much as she could back then.

"Koukai your a great bud you know that?"

She said giving the Minerva a warm smile as the two of them flew towards the pond, Sierra feeling more than content to spend her time with koukai and the nature around them.

It was 5:45pm by the time the two of them caught sight of the small lake, Sierra smiling widely at the sight. In the still bright afternoon light the lake was a small coin of light green blue surrounded by a small clearing of bright green grass that was speckled with dots of color from the few wildflowers that were beginning to grow around the lake. She felt what stress was filling her slipping away as she and koukai grew closer towards the small clearing. Before long the two of them landed in it near soundlessly. Bare feet, paws and talons barely made a sound as they rested onto the lush green grass. Sierra smiled widely as she took in the sight of the clearing, taking a deep breath of the clean outside air. It was odd how different the air tasted to her compared to earth's. The air had been more plain, reminding her of a worn shirt or sweater. But the air here in connection? It had a slight sweet and clean taste to it like that of fresh icy water. It was a nice change from earth's atmosphere and several other things that Sierra disliked about earth. She shook off her thoughts about earth before she focused back on her surroundings, spreading her arms out and feeling the breeze that blew past the trees and forest around her. Closing her eyes at the sensation of the wind kissing the tips of her fingers and the back of her bare heels. It felt good doing this just letting herself relax and focus on the life and world going on around her. Birds chirping, the knee length grass swishing as the breeze went through, the sound of the fish and frogs going about their life in the pond. Eventually she picked up on another sound, something that sounded wrong and off compared to the natural music going on around her. Her eyes snapped opened as she heard the sounds of three sets of feet stepping on sticks and rocks while two voices talked with each other near unintelligibly. The young hybrid quickly walked towards where she could her the voices coming from, she could only frown as the voices went away from where she stood. All she could make out from what little she could comprehend was some sort of mumbled out words.

"All I'm saying is........and then we could.......tech please............"

Sierra could only understand one of the two voices speaking, the other far too quiet for her to understand what they were saying. She narrowed her eyes and tired to focus harder on the words the two spoke to one another. She knew to anyone else this would be considered eavesdropping but she felt off about the fact that there were three people walking by themselves this back out in the woods and even worse the third person with them hadn't spoken once. The whole thing gave her a sense of wrongness, she wasn't sure what they were doing but her instinct screamed at her that something was wrong. She shivered and stayed frozen as she strained to listen as the voices became fainter and fainter until eventually they were gone. She stayed there stiff and alert to every sound around her for a few minutes before she eventually relaxed her body and looked back to where koukai stood behind her, his ears folded back and his fur and feathers fluffed up in agitation and fear. His tail flicking angrily, his body screamed that he had felt the wrongness of the situation too. Weather it had been from the two of there's bond or instinct the two were silent and very aware that the people that had passed by gave off an aura of danger. Sierra slinked away from where she stood, as silently as she could manage. Flinching every time she felt a stick or rock underneath her bare feet. Eventually her body relaxed and the sense of danger faded away completely. She sighed heavily her body tired from being so tense and stiff. She glanced to koukai watching the Minerva relax and stretch out on the grass. She let out a relaxed sigh.

"Guess whoever those guys were their gone now bud"

Sierra spoke up before leaning down and petting the top of Koukai's head. A smile forming on her face as the Minerva churred loudly at the touch. She gave a nod before she sat down beside him and let him lay across her lap, her hands petting his fur and feathers back. They would be okay, whatever the two of them had felt was gone now and they were safe. They would be okay.

Sierra dove under the lakes surface again her eyes taking in the surroundings around her. The water was clear to her, and much cleaner than it had been when she had first found it. After the first time she had cooled her feet off in the water, it had cleared up surprisingly quick. Not even when the dust and slit at the bottom of the pond was kicked up did it affect the odd now magically clear pond. A part of her had considered if her simply touching the water had caused this sudden change in the water, but she wasn't too sure. She had read that Magi's and magi hybrids like her could have three elements they knew naturally from the get go but she wasn't sure if she was one of those yet. All she knew was that she was definitely capable of controlling nature and maybe even the element of spirit too. She did have an odd intuition when it came to events and supernatural oddities, not counting her strange dreams of the future that she would have. She pushed away the thoughts of the knowledge of her true species. She still didn't know what to think of it. Should she be happy about it? Should she really feel this empty about it? Was it normal to feel this heavy feeling after finally discovering who you really are? She swam deeper into the lake eyes taking in the clear green water around her. Watching the small silvery fish and a couple turtles swim by her. It felt calm under the water, almost similar to how she felt being surrounded by plants and animals. This felt like home, a part of her that she wasn't aware of until now. She decided maybe she could test a theory of hers now than never. She felt her eyes burning brightly, shining like two beacons in the water of the pond. The bright light seemed to frighten away the nearby fish from her as she struggled to focus on holding her breath and using her magic. Her lungs burned , and her eyes ached with white hot pain. Then a huge splash came from above, something gripped the back of her shirt and hoisted her up from the water like she was an angry kitten. She coughed loudly as her lungs expelled the water that she had accidentally inhaled when she had been surprised by being grabbed so suddenly. She was lowered carefully to the grass beside the lake and coughed harder as her body began to burn and ache in an all too familiar way.

"Shit, not fuckin' now sweet mirth."

She gasped out hoarsely as she struggled to take in a deep breath of air before she was curling up into a ball from the pain that was going through her body. Koukai carefully dragged her away from the lake slowly by her shirt collar as she shivered from the water that was soaked her shirt and pants was chilled by the afternoon breeze blowing by. Pain was wracking through her body as she struggled to keep a steady breath and not expel it in a pained scream like she tended to let out whenever her body decided to have another one of these moments. Koukai curled around her closely pressing her up against his body letting her warm up. Sierra was distinctly aware of the sheer size Koukai was at the moment, he was almost the size of the cottage back home. She was more in awe at his size rather than fearful honestly. All she could really feel emotionally was tired and hurt as her body ached and jolted with sharp pain. The sides of her neck itched sharply before becoming a horrid burning sensation along with the feeling that she suddenly couldn't breath. Sierra grew panicked as she felt the air in her lungs be expelled quickly as the pain in her body honed in more on her lungs. Chest heaving and her shaking hands scrabbling at her throat as she let out loud wheezing pained sound from her lips. Koukai nudged his face up against her whole body, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed at her worriedly. She could faintly notice the look of worry in his eyes, then she heard him speaking to her through their bond.

'Sierra!, are you okay? What's going on?'

She opened and closed her mouth like a dying fish as she struggled to focus on giving him some kind of response. All she could manage though was a short barely intelligible sentence.

'Hurts, can't-can't breathe. Help'

The large Minerva seemed to panic at her words before he forced the young hybrid onto her back and began to gently press down onto her chest with his beak. She grew confused at his actions before he rose up and gently pressed down again onto her chest with the bottom of his beak. He repeated the action several more times growing increasingly more panicked and worried. It finally clicked in the suffocating hybrid's mind. He was doing cpr, her bloodshot eyes widened at the realization as she forced herself to ignore the horrible pain that was going through her chest and neck to instead press each one of her hands on either side of his beak and began to guide him in pumping her chest.

'This has to work right?, whatever the hell is going on this has got to fucking work!'

She screamed internally as koukai continued following her weakening lead, his dark brown eyes looking on at her with what she could feel was fear. She tightened her hold on his beak as best she could making him go just a little faster with his chest compressions. Suddenly nausea hit her, making her squirm underneath his beak before he lifted his head up and watched as Sierra turned onto her stomach and threw up. She found herself finally able to breathe again and in between each retch she heaved she took in greedy gulps of air. Air filling her lungs as she struggled to regain some form of composure. Soon after what felt like an eternity her body stopped hitting her with nausea and she forced herself to now look at the small pile of rotting meat that once had been her lungs. A few coughs still wracked her body but she could finally breath again.

"Holy shit"

She rasped out as koukai nuzzled her a happy and worried churr slipping from him.

"Yeah it's okay bud, I'm okay."

She looked at the small pile, grass and flowers already growing over the dead meat. She shivered at the sight, the memory of how close she had been to suffocating to death. It was still fresh in her mind, all of it was still fresh in her mind.

'Are you okay?'

Koukai asked her through their bond, his large head laying on her lap. Watery dark brown eyes watching the young hybrid carefully. She looked terrified at what had just happened.

"I-I"

Sierra struggled to answer the Minerva before she eventually shook her head and looked down at him. A look of determination crossed her face before she gave him a shaky smile.

"I'm okay koukai, I'm okay now."

She hugged his head, her arms barely going around it completely. He huffed at her worrying about her still, he had felt her emotions in that moment before. Felt her fear, her pain and worse of all her thoughts. She thought she was dying, had thought she was going to die from something she had no control over. The fear's he had felt from her worried him greatly and yet he didn't know what to do aside from comforting her the best he could.

"Hey bud it's okay I promise, I guess my body decided to go ahead and do this now of all times."

Sierra spoke quick to reassure the Minerva that looked like he was a second away from cuddling her to death with his nuzzling.

"It probably would have been worse if you hadn't gotten me out of the water when you did."

She spoke the words quieter than before her eyes growing dark at the many possibilities that could have happened. Images of her drowning before slowly sinking to the bottom of the lake. She shuddered at the thought before she allowed herself to breath calmly enjoying the way her chest rose up and down for an entirely different reason than before. She was alive and she was going to be okay, it was all going to fine.

After a quick bout of panicked and terrified of looking up exactly what the fuck happened to her body on her phone through connection's planet wide free WiFi. Something the hybrid had been grateful for before but was even more grateful for it. Within seconds of typing in things like

'Is it normal to vomit up your organs when your a magi hybrid?'And   
'Can you side from your body deciding to choose to be an asshole and make you reject your lungs'

Ironically enough both of them got her the answers she wanted. Though some of the titles for the websites that popped up made her want to scream and pull out her hair in frustration and self hate for her situation.

'Magi pupations symptoms and how to handle your new developing body!'

'How to manage your first pupation stage & how to adapt to your new body!'

'So you're from another planet and found out for not human! (What you need to know and more!)'

Sierra had to admit that the last one hit a little too hard on the majority of her current issues. Regardless after reading up on a good few dozen webpages that all seemed fairly professional and trustworthy Sierra came to the conclusion that maybe just maybe she had really shitty luck when it came down to her body.

'So you're a young magi or magi hybrid and you may or may not have finished the preliminary stage of your first stage of pupation and are well on your way to developing into an incredible being that is connected to life in many ways that the magi species are well known for! Don't worry or panic if you feel you are alone in this situation many other magi's and magi hybrid's all go through this stage of life the same way!'

Sierra has to pull back from her phone to force herself not to grimace at the way the website was seemingly being talked about almost as if pupating was a process to puberty. Then she had to hold back from letting her mind go down that train of thought before she forced herself to continue reading the website that seemed to have been written by a person who seemed way to fucking cheery about the topic.

'Magi's and there hybrid's all go through three stages of pupation and there have even been a few rare cases of royal magi's going through a forth stage that is not yet well documented in this moment in time, But it is mostly accepted worldwide that magi's go through three stages of this incredible life journey to become a fully grown and mature magi/magi hybrid!

The first pupation stage is the longest out of the three, and often seen as the most painful and emotionally and physically exhausting one of the three.'

Sierra groaned internally after she read the words.

'Great just great, I'm a fucking magi hybrid and varies didn't even attempt telling me about how painful being one is. Fan-fucking-tastic.'

She paused briefly in her thoughts before she quickly added something to her ever growing list of things she was going to have to do next time she saw varies when the daemon came back from her work trip.

'Welp time to add kick Varies's metaphorical ass for not telling me about my newfound alien-ness. That should fit pretty great on my list above 'sob uncontrollably in her arms' and below 'vent about how I felt like I was suffocating to death.'

Sierra heaved a sigh at her thoughts of the purple eyed daemon, before her brief flare of anger and annoyance at the other's poor timing when talking about topics like this was extinguished by the thoughts of the daemons smile and the way her goat-like ears twitched whenever Sierra would talk to her. She felt her cheeks grow warm at the more intimate thoughts of the other woman.

'Maybe I can kick her ass after she gets more settled in when she comes back in, maybe I could just nag her just a little bit instead of kicking her ass.'

Sierra flushed again at the thought of varies coming home, hugging Sierra tightly in her strong arms to reminded the hybrid of Samantha's own strong hold. Then the image of the two catching up over a meal that the two made together and talking about anything and everything. After that maybe the two of them would sit together on the couch and just watch television or some movies with each other. The two of them mere inches away from each other's body's before the tension between the two would snap and they would lay on the couch lips pressed against one another and Sierra flushed darkly at how quickly her mind went to thoughts of her and the daemon doing more more intimate things. She shook her head roughly before she went back to reading the website on her phone.

'Yep! Totally not going to think about how much I may or may not want to definitely kiss her and do other stuff that might make her book it for the hills! Why would I ever want to consider that possibility! I mean me and her are just friends right now, right?'

Sierra could feel herself focusing more on the purple eyed daemon that liked to knit and sew instead of the webpage open on her phone. The very important website that she really needed to finish reading before she forgot to do so. At that thought she snapped her eyes back to reading the webpage, dropping her thoughts about the cute and appealing daemon in her life who knowing her might be sewing, crocheting, knitting something cute and adorable for her or someone else.

'The first pupation stage in normal circumstances starts around the age of 13-16 and usually lasts only about five to seven months depending on the stress level of the magi/hybrid going through the stage. But in more odd circumstances if a hybrid that hadn't been living on connection prior during this normal stage will not fully physically mature in certain aspects i.e. their magic may be more unstable than most, they may grow to be taller than normal after fully pupating, and of course they may go through more pain than a normal magi/hybrid born on connection would normally experience.

Magi/hybrid's that are in this situation are encouraged to go to their doctor and have a daily routine checkup to have their pupation process monitored Incase they have a incident during said pupation stage. So far the highest age that has been recorded for a magi/hybrid off planet to experience this is as high as thirty years old, but it is becoming less uncommon for this kind of experience dude to connection's ever growing inclusion of hundreds of other worlds in its culture and trade.'

Sierra may or may not have breathed a deep sigh of relief at the age mention, though she did feel herself freeze at the realization that what she was currently going through was a Magi's version of puberty. Her thoughts crashed into one another as she let the fact sink in.

"God damnit!"

She swore as she rubbed her face, her eyes burning hotly as she struggled to hold back tears of frustration.

'Welp time to deal with the most awkward part of my life for a second round ain't it?'

She thought bitterly as she glared up at the sky hoping that her messiahs were up there watching the events taking place in her life. The thought alone of her messiahs had her relaxing and sighing gently as she thought about the positive's about her situation.

'At least I wasn't thirty or older when I came here?, at least I wasn't kidnapped or forced to come here. At least every moment in life is a lesson or miracle of life.'

She focused on that train of thought.

'This is fine, this is just another trial that my messiahs have added to the story of my life to overcome and make me even more aware of the miracles of life around me. I will get through this, this is only a small moment compared to my life already. It will one day be a long distant memory that I will remember with fondness and understanding with a clarity that I have yet to achieve yet.'

She closed her eyes and crossed her legs sitting on the ground, setting her phone on her lap as she relaxed and focused on the future. Koukai sitting around her and watching her attentively but not daring to interrupt her moment of thinking.

"This will pass in time, and when it does I'll be grateful for the lessons I have learnt from it."

She breathed out calmly as she spoke to herself. Focusing on her body and the cool feeling of an afternoon breeze blowing against her wet skin and still wet clothes. She was okay, she was present in this current moment in time and she would stay present in this moment for as long as she wished.

"The world will be fine even as I have this struggle in my life, life will go on even as I feel my mind tear at the seams."

She spoke to herself as she took in another deep breath or clean air. She would be okay she would be fine as long as she kept herself together and aware that this was only going to be a brief problem in her life. After this she would keep moving forward at her own pace and she would enjoy everything around her the best she could. After a moment she tilted her head up skyward and focused on the gentle warmth of the evening sunlight caressing her face. She smiled warmly at the sensation as she allowed herself to feel calm and serene in that moment. She would be okay, everything would be okay at the end of it all. Even if life around her died and turned to dust, she would still persist to whatever road of fate she was building for herself.

Eventually she opened up her eyes again and took in the light blue sky of the mid-evening. She just allowed herself to watch the clouds move in the air as she let go of all of the things that had been worrying her lately. She was going to be fine. After a minute or two she finally looked back down at her phone and went back to reading the webpage she had open on it.

'The beginning of the first pupation stage all starts the same usually. The magi/hybrid will feel their eyes burning painfully and body aching and burning as most commonly described by most magi/hybrids as if they were on fire or being struck by lightning. While this goes on their body/skin will produce a thick edible silk material that they will either vomit up or have emit from their skin. Most commonly both though it is not weird for the silk to be only produced one way and not the latter. Most commonly this initial beginning to the first pupation stage occurs when the magi/hybrid are asleep only waking up when their body's finally come close to reaching the peak of the first stage. Waking up to the magi/hybrid screaming in pain is sadly very common during this stage. As the pain they are experiencing is incredibly excruciating and the best you can do to comfort the magi/hybrid is help them in the removal of their clothes or clam them down verbally the best you can as touching them during this initial process may cause them more pain than comfort. Many other symptoms of what a magi/hybrid may go through while going through this process is as follows

•skin/fur appearing paler than normal or dripping with a white/off white or opaque liquid  
•eyes glowing the color of the magi/hybrids magic  
•vomiting, defecating, urinating, and or other emptying of the bowels  
•the body glowing brightly while the cocoon is forming around the magi/hybrids body  
If any of what was listed above is occurring to the magi/hybrid do not panic as this is a natural occurrence and panicking may further panic or frighten the magi/hybrid. After about half and hour to two hours the magi/hybrid will become fully cocooned in a rock hard silk cocoon that is ,despite the surface being incredibly hard, still fragile to a point and should be treated with care.'

At the bottom of the paragraph their were some photos of a large oval like cocoon with a few very haggard and tired people standing around it with proud smiles on their faces. Then there was a few of a naked person who seemed to be in great pain curled in on themselves and had a strange white liquid coming from their mouth and all over their skin as if they had been dipped in glue or something else. She had to repress the still painful memory of her second night on connection. The violent spasms her body had gone through while she had vomited the same off white liquid that she now realized was silk. She felt her stomach spasm at the memory, nausea filling her suddenly before she forced herself to scroll past the images and onto the next paragraph the webpage had to offer her prying eyes.

'After the cocoon is fully hardened and finished it will take from a week to two for the magi/hybrid to break through the cocoon, though it has been confirmed that if the magi/hybrid in question is surrounded by a few of their elements they may emerge quicker though this is highly discouraged because this stage is a very fragile one and may make the following process take longer than normal.'

Sierra felt her heart drop to the pit of her stomach at that. Her element, at least one of them was earth and varies had toted her cocoon all throughout the forest while making sure she was safe. It would bring up a lot of the hesitation's the daemon May have felt towards the hybrids whole pupation process as well. Sierra thought about her situation in what she hoped would be an accurate point of view for varies. She thought about how she would feel knowing the person she was with was eventually going to have to go through something this horrible but she didn't have enough time to explain the situation all that great either. She heaved a sigh at the thought that maybe just maybe varies felt guilty about all of this already. She made sure to add 'be subtle about my pupation' to her mental checklist. She wasn't a hundred percent sure if Varies was aware or not of the finer details of the pupation process but she was going to be sure to go over it with varies next time she saw the daemon.

'When the magi/hybrid finally emerges from their cocoon they will be covered in a heavily magic filled liquid that had helped them survive and begin their physical transformation into a mature magi/hybrid. During this point they may seem to not be completely aware of their surroundings or their actions as they will be still in a sleep-like state until their body's finally adjust to the outside world again. During this they may instinctively eat their cocoon and the Liquid on them and in the cocoon. Don't worry or panic too much about this as it is a similar process as a caterpillar eating their eggshell for nutrition. The nutrients in the cocoon's shell and the liquid will help the newly pupated magi regain any body fat or muscle lost in the cocooning process.'

Sierra grimaced at the words, imagining how it odd it must have been for varies to watch her eat a slik cocoon that was probably covered in leaves and messiahs knew what else. She flushed darkly in embarrassment, horrified that she had done something like that while unconscious. She would have to make sure to bring it up to Varies, or at least make it up to the daemon some way or another. She tossed around a few ideas on how to make it up to the daemon as she continued reading. More than invested and interested in the knowledge of her new found species.

'After emerging from the cocoon the magi/hybrid in question may take two to three days to wake up from there sleep-like state during this time let them rest and don't attempt to wake them up by force as this may make them stay asleep longer as it will make their unconscious mind think they are in a state of danger and may cause a another cocoon to form around them to protect them. After they wake up from their recovery stage please allow themselves to adjust to their new body as they may discover new attributes about their newly matured body's. Certain things that may become quickly aware to the magi/hybrid is as follows:  
•newfound ability to fly with light based wings the color of the magi/hybrids magic  
•eyes glowing depending on their mood and energy  
•thin slits in between the shoulder blades, underneath the first set of eyes, and two large slots underneath the first pair of arms  
•a newfound bond with certain elements and a stronger than normal surge of magical energy (this is normal as their bodies are still adjusting to their newfound magical abilities and connection to their preferred elements.)  
•sporadic emotional mood swings or sudden surges of energy (please be patient with the magi/hybrid is question as they themselves aren't aware of this change and can not control it quiet yet as they are still going through an adjustment period)  
•sudden cravings for movement and exercises at all hours of the day (this is normal and is a sign of a healthy magi/hybrid that is pupating well)

Please keep in mind all of these physical, emotional and mental symptoms will continue well into the second pupation stage and disregarding the magi/hybrid as being overreactive or annoying is seen as rude or harsh as the magi/hybrid does not yet have a good hold of these uncontrollable symptoms and will need as much support as possible to learn to eventually maintain them to a healthy degree. Keep in mind this adjustment period last well into the second pupation stage.'

"Well fuck it really is just like puberty ain't it?"

Sierra said leaning back onto koukai's back her face scrunching up in annoyance and embarrassment at the sheer list of symptoms many of which she had the displeasure of experiencing. Her flip flopping anger and annoyance towards varies or anyone else who interacted with her while she was in a foul mood. Her sudden bursts of crying that she had since making the house and being much more hurt about varies not liking certain parts about the house more than she normally would have been. She grimaced at the realization that even now regardless that she now better understood what the hell was going on with her body she still felt out of control of most of her emotions in the moment. She closed her eyes shut and breathed in and out of her nose slowly to hopefully relax herself. Eventually she opened them back up and went back to reading the webpage.

'After the initial waking the magi/hybrid may go through moments of sudden nausea and pain throughout their body over the course of the next several months. This is a normal part of the pupation process and it is highly encouraged to have someone with the magi/hybrid constantly as to help comfort or soothe them during these moments as they are the final part of the final part of the first pupation stage and the most vital part. Symptoms of this part includes:

•vomiting of blood, decaying meat/organs (this is common and is most likely to happen)  
•uncontrollable shivering and heat waves  
•magic activating and causing slight accidental property damage  
•intense burning pain focused on the organ/part of the body that is being rejected and replaced (this also is very common and not something to panic to much about)  
•screaming or crying in pain and not seeming to be aware of it  
•nose bleeds and eyes crying diluted blood/glowing brightly  
•developing a new set of two rows of teeth and a set of small mandibles located underneath the tongue

Many of these symptoms are very common and are all a part of the magi/hybrid life cycle. If you see a magi/hybrid showing any of these symptoms or more please give them space and try to help them the best you can if possible.'

'And there it is.'

Sierra thought as she read the webpage, understanding for several things that had been happening to her clicked into a clear image. Allowing her to understand why some had treated her a certain way or why they acted a certain way around her. Aalva being motherly and far more patient with her than Sierra had ever really expected from her. Monica being stern in the way she spoke about being a magi hybrid, and how she seemed far too keen on drilling certain practices into sierra's head when it came to magic. All of it was for her, to help her in this situation. As that realization she felt herself become frustrated with herself.

'Why do I need them to worry about me? I can do it myself, I mean I'm fucking 22 years old after all!'

She could feel herself growing more annoyed by the second.

'I don't need to be treated like I'm fragile! I'm not that innocent or stupid! I can handle this kinda shit."

She hadn't realized that she had started to talk aloud as her anger and annoyance began to grow. She knew she wasn't mad at anyone really, she was more angry at herself if anything. She was angry at her past choices that led her to this point, she was angry at herself for existing, for being who she was. And with all of that rage directed at herself and all of the attributes that made up herself she felt herself crumbling mentally and physically. She stood up from where she had been sitting up against koukai suddenly with a slight growl of anger slipping from her lips. She capthaloged her phone before she gripped the sides of her head, fingers tangling themselves into her hair as she felt white hot anger and rage bubble up. She could faintly register koukai whining up at her in worry, as she began to pace slightly along the lakeside. Her brows furrowed as she struggled to hold back her anger and rage towards herself and the sheer frustration she felt towards everything in that moment.

She felt herself breaking down as she began to berate herself verbally. Like she always did whenever things got just a little too much for her emotionally and mentally.

"Fucking stupid"

She started glaring down at the ground her face twisting into one of emotional turmoil. Koukai didn't do much of anything other than standing up and watching the young hybrid grow more and more frustrated at herself.

"That's all I am, a stupid good for nothing idiot."

Sierra spoke again her words full of venom and disdain for herself. What more had she expected from herself? Of course she was stupid, she always had been stupid. She never thought things through first and always made a decision far too quicker than other more rational people would have done. She was stubborn, selfish and immature and all of the other things that the world hated.

'Pathetic'

Her mind hissed at her as she gripped harder at her hair hardly wincing as she felt some of the strands be pulled to hard. Why would she care she deserved this after all? She was pathetic and broken in far too many ways. Why hadn't she thought more before she came to connection? Why hadn't she mulled over her choice for longer than a mere fucking second? She couldn't find a good enough answer in the forefront of her mind aside from the few painful ones that deep down she knew were wrong.

'You didn't think about it more because your stupid and worthless, you were only thinking about yourself because your selfish and you love to make everyone around you suffer.'

Her thoughts were muddled with hateful words and twisted anger that was directed at herself instead of being a rational person and excepting that she may have messed up.

"I'm so goddamn stupid!, why did I ever think that coming here would be a good idea?"

She asked her voice pitching and her chest heaving as she struggled to hold back the burning tears that were threatening to spill. She had to keep it together, yeah she was alone with koukai, yes she was aware maybe this sudden anger and rage towards her situation and herself was a bit overkill but she couldn't bring herself to care at that moment.

"All that I've done since coming here is find out that I'm just even more of a freak than I already was before!"

Images and deep emotional pain that was ingrained deep into her psyche flashed across her mind. Moments in her life that had changed her life to an extent. Or had at least had a large hand in shaping her view of herself. Being outcasted from the other children in elementary school, her parents divorcing, her lack of social understanding for certain situations. Her stepfather's barely hidden disdain for her and her brother. How she many times had she overheard him talk badly and down about her from the far too thin walls of her childhood bedroom.

'Crazy bitch, leech, freak'

She could feel herself falling to her knees her face wet from the tears that were spilling from her eyes. It hurt just as much as the first time but maybe she deserved that.

"Broken, that's all I am I'm broken and stupid and less than dirt."

She wasn't even aware that she was mumbling the words aloud, she was all to focused on the pain in her heart and her mind. She wanted to scream but she didn't even know if she really could anymore.

'Can someone lose the ability to scream or yell?'

She asked herself as she felt her emotions overwhelm her and the fragile state her emotional wellbeing had been shattered. She cried out loudly in a heart wrenching sobbing cry as she tore out her hair and her fingers scratched over her scalp in a way that burned sharply. When she wasn't content with that she went for her own arms. White hot pain the went across her arms as her own nails dig into them and scrapped against her skin painfully. Crying and sobbing about how worthless she was. Vague memories of past painful panic attacks and self harming moments. How it felt like no one looked at her like she was someone who knew what they were doing but instead someone who was clueless about the entire world. She was barely aware of when koukai pressed her up against his side forcefully making her panic slightly. Her arms and hands were pressed up against her chest and she couldn't move them to scratch at her arms, her face or tear out more of her hair.

"Let me go, let me go!, let me go!"

She yelled panicking as the seconds ticked by. Her logical side shook its head in understanding at her internal panic and her self hate.

'Calm down, breathe'

She was vaguely aware that koukai was speaking to her though there bond but she wasn't completely there yet. All she could really focus on was the pain and agony she had felt all throughout her life. Minutes passed and slowly at first she began to feel her body relax. Than she slowly became aware that she was rocking back and forth slightly in koukai's hold her hands gripped tightly in his soft fur. She felt bad, what if she was hurting him?, what if?

'Relax, breathe I'm okay'

The Minerva's voice spoke again to her, urging her to relax and let herself be comforted. Sierra tried breathing out of her nose but it was clogged up with snot and tears from her crying so instead she breathed slowly from her mouth. In and out, her newer lungs expanding and contracting. Another reminder that she wasn't human, that she was never human. It only served to prove further to her that she wasn't normal, that she would to most of the people back on earth would only see her as a freak. She almost started sobbing again at that thought but she forced herself to keep taking in deep breaths of air. Trying helplessly to calm herself down from her panic attack. Everything seemed like too much to her, the sounds of nature were too loud, the bright sunlight hurt her eyes as if she had never seen the sun before. She knew it was all in her head but Sierra couldn't help feeling overwhelmed.

Eventually she relaxed pressed up against koukai's side as she was. Her fingers curled into his soft fur as she closed her eyes and focused on just the sensation of his soft fur and how it felt against her fingertips. It felt nice, almost like silk but more soft. She wasn't sure how exactly to put it into words aside from that petting the large Minerva's fur felt nice, and soothed her soul in a way that only a few items in her life ever managed to do. Her mind went off to brief thoughts of her slew of items that made her feel safe and content; her baby blanket from her childhood that still had the smell of home forever permeating off of it, her large selection of dolls that she felt content in just laying on her side after a panic attack tears drying on her cheeks as she would just slowly pet the soft or rugged fabric that they were made of. The scent of vanilla and warmth filled her mind as she pressed herself closer to koukai sniffing slightly as she felt herself begin to unconsciously rock back and forth slightly. She didn't mind the sensation, it felt right and comforting to do; similar to how when she got really happy she would flap her hands the motion reminding her of butterflies almost. She just allowed herself to be comforted by the large Minerva. Her mind quiet for the first time in four weeks, no hateful thoughts or paranoia filled ideas and possibilities. Just a calm quiet that had her relaxed and limp against the Minerva's side.

'Sierra?'

She hummed quietly her throat still sore and ragged from her bout of crying and throwing up.

'You okay?'

She sighed out of her nose slowly at koukai's question before she spoke quietly.

"I don't think I've honestly been okay for a really long time koukai."

She paused looking up from his side to look at his large face. Each of his eyes the size of a small window and yet just as telling as one. She could feel his concern and worry for her mental well-being. She gave him a small genuine smile as she reached up and placed her right hand up against his leathery beak. Her thumb rubbing up against the soft warm surface.

"But I think I'm a lot better than I used to be honestly, and I'm only going to get better from here."

She spoke with a tone of knowing and a wise tilt that she knew she had buried in her underneath all of her more personal issues and feelings. Though when she had a panic attack like this she always seemed to come to a certain clarity and self awareness that most wouldn't get. Koukai exhaled out of his nose, the warm breath ghosting over her hand pressed against his beak. She smiled warmly at him enjoying this small moment in time that felt so peaceful and slotted perfectly into her mental list of things she would never give her life up for. Small things like this, warm sunshine drying off her body and fresh green grass coolly rubbing against her bare feet and ankles.

'I'm glad.'

He replied simply before he pressed his face up against her body, nuzzling it. A warm rumble slipping from him as he did so. Sierra chuckled loudly at his affection but closed her eyes as she leaned onto his forehead.

"Hey koukai?"

'Yes?'

"Your fucking awesome you know that?"

She felt the rumble of his laughter against her body, bringing her a large warm closed lipped smile to her face at the sensation.

'Yes you tell me this all of the time Sierra.'

"Good, I just wanted to remind you."

Sierra smiled wider at she felt content and peaceful in that moment. Not feeling the need to go and do much, neither feeling the need to head home quite yet. Only thinking to enjoy this moment with a friend that would help her no matter what.

Brenna breathed out of her nose as she took in the passing surroundings while she sat in the worn leather car seat of Sam's truck. The two had gotten to know each other a lot more since the week of their mutual friend going to another planet and all. The red head couldn't help feeling antsy as they drove deeper into the outskirts of Sierra duplex's neighborhood. Her mind busy replaying the events of last hour again and again in her mind. The huge argument that had broken out between Sam and Roderick while Brenna had been visiting them. Just checking up on them, seeing how they were handling themselves since Sierra went. She honestly hadn't expected their to be a fight but to the extent it seemed to go was worrying. Brenna glanced over quickly to where Samantha sat in the driver's seat, her hands white knuckled from how hard she was gripping the steering wheel. The red head could swear she could hear the leather and hard plastic that made up the driving wheel creaking slightly in the dirty blondes hold. It was a little frightening to be honest. She had never seen Sierra's significant other look this angry or quietly pissed since the birthday party incident. Or rather the day Sierra left when Marien or rather varies as Sam has told them all after she had come back. She still couldn't get the image of Tim going outside his hand on the gun holster that she had seen him wearing on the belt of his pants a few times during the weekend party. She hadn't thought a lot about it until she and a few of the others watched him grow antsy in the RV before he finally caved in and told them all to stay inside the RV before he ran outside into the night and after the sounds of two men screaming in fear and agony. Of course she, drake, Nathan and jade ran out after him. She armed with nothing but a barbecue fork because she had thought it should be able to at least poke an eye out or something, drake she vaguely remembered grabbing a kitchen knife and calling out for Sierra. Nathan though she could remember he had a gun of his own. She really shouldn't be as surprised as she was with the sheer amount of guns she was seeing that night. Then jade of course with a knife of her own. If their was anything Sierra was good at doing it was picking her friends. Most of them apparently being smart or adept in someway or another with a weapon or strategic thinking. She still could remember how Tim yelled at them to get back to the RV but she eventually just gave in and let them go with. She could still remember what they had been welcomed with when they finally made it to the clearing Sam had been in. All they smelt was copper and the finer scents of the forest. Then was what she knew now was blood, bright near neon glowing blood. Everywhere in the clearing, and of course the two limp bodies of the two guys who were the men in black that had shot at varies. Then in the middle of it all knelt beside one of the bodies and grabbing and poking at certain spots on his face was Sam. Her eyes dull and faraway but still so alert and on guard, hair a mess, the back of her forearms sliced up with deep oozing gashes. She had looked up immediately when they came into the clearing, Tim and Nathan at the front and her, drake and jade behind them. All of them wide eyed at the sight before them. Brenna knew Sam was capable of killing, she had been with Sam and Sierra the day Sam told Sierra about how she had killed someone once who really deserved it. Brenna had thought that maybe it had been a joke back then, but during that moment and now? She knew better than to ever doubt anything the other said. Be it something like her being capable of seeing and talking to ghosts or demons, seeing the auras of the ode around her or remembering past lives. She knew better than to think the other was lying especially now. Sam had explained to them what had happened and who the men in black really were. Brenna could still remember feeling her heart drop when Sam had lifted the bigger of the two, a man that had been at least two feet taller than her with an ease that still gave Brenna chills; before she had ripped his face off revealing a very non human one underneath it. Gray blue skin, large black eyes staring out dully, Sam effectively revealed to them that 1) aliens were real and 2) Sam was stronger than she looked all while not batting an eye at any of it. Brenna couldn't help wondering if Sierra's type in general was wild and terrifying all while in a neat unassuming package. The redhead couldn't help agreeing that yes that had to be it, Sierra herself was wild to an extent. She had to be to like what she did, who loved clowns and all things psychological horror themed without thinking once that anyone would find her odd or strange.

Brenna looked back over to where Samantha sat, taking in the dirty blondes quiet expression of stern boiling rage. Her lips straight and neutral but her sea green blue eyes that had the odd speck of brown and bright blue in them were filled with a quiet rage that had Hannah's blood cold with fear. The scene of the fight between her and Roderick still played over in her mind unchanging and unfaltering. Eventually Brenna couldn't take the painful silence anymore before she decided to break it.

"So.... do you Uh think that he's gonna be gone when we go back?"

She looked away from the dirty blond and to the front windshield window. She could hear Sam's grip on the driver wheel relaxing before hearing the other take in a long and deep inhale before exhaling it than she finally spoke.

"He better be, he and I both know what he said in there was uncalled for. Tim agrees of course with both of us but he just thinks we're being a little too much and I can't blame him. I'd think the same."

Sam's voice was calm and knowing as she spoke. Brenna relaxing that the other wasn't shouting in rage.

'Thank god'

"But if he isn't"

Sam went on, her voice gaining a steely tone to it. As if she was getting ready to have a fist fight with the young man in an hour.

"He better hope that he can run quick enough from me."

Brenna went stiff at the sheer bitterness in the others words. She knew what Roderick had said in the dulplex was extremely harsh and to an extent uncalled for but she hadn't expected Sam to hold a grudge against the man for his words so soon.

She had been sitting at their kitchen table, a large homemade bread boy before her and Sam. The bread boy had been a inside joke between her and Sierra before Sierra had moved out of her parents house the second time round, than when she had been living in the apartment with tim the two of them had made one together from scratch. Sierra wearing one of her sleeveless dresses and a sun hat because she just wanted to that day. It was before the quarantine dealing with the corona virus that had started later that year. She and her throwing jokes and memes at each other like usual. Sierra lecturing her on how to properly prepare bread and her of course butting head with her on the matter. At the end of it Sierra had proven herself right about the matter and that first bread boy had come out amazing. Regardless of the absolutely terrifying face and how much of a cursed image it had looked before and after it was done baking. Sierra of course told all of those close to her about the event and shared a good laugh about it. She guessed that maybe it had been a bit rude of her to just come by with something that would have made Sierra howl with laughter while the gaping hole where the other dirty blonde had been before was still fresh and not yet healed quite yet. Roderick had come into the kitchen Tim following him close behind eying him with a glint of frustration and annoyance. Roderick as soon as he saw Sam had began to complain to her about how bad he felt. About how he didn't have the energy to do anything, even taking his depression medication. Sam and Tim told him to go take the meds before trying to talk with Brenna, asking her how she had been doing and how college was going for her. Almost as if they were desperate to not be Roderick's therapist. Brenna has realized in that moment what had changed for their household. Sierra has been the glue holding them together at least encouraged them to get along with one another or understand one another's problems and issues. She remembered how Sierra would occasionally talk to her for hours about how tiring it could be helping Roderick out with his depression and how nothing she said ever seemed to cheer him up or make him happier If anything to the dirty blonde it seemed like it made it worse. Eventually the conversation went from topic to topic before Brenna had dared to ask how they were doing with Sierra being gone. It had started okay at first tim and Sam admitting they missed the other greatly before Roderick had snapped like a rubber band stretched too taut. He talked about how he wished she hadn't left, how it was kind've a stupid choice for her to make. How if she had stayed they could have figured out the future issues with no problem, how it had been varies's fault. How the daemon had cornered Sierra into having no choice but to go with her. Tim tried to get him to calm down before Sam snapped at Roderick in such a cold voice that Brenna felt as if Sam had been replaced with someone completely different. The two had started arguing then, Roderick throwing the blame for the whole situation onto varies while Sam calmly explained in that cold and icy voice that Sierra chose their safety over her own. How Sierra wouldn't want them to be arguing like children or being sad and mournful about her going to an alien planet without them. How Sierra would want them to keep living and move forward until Sierra would be able to contact them on her end. He had snapped and grown angrier at her words, yelling about how stupid that was and how the only reason Sierra chose to leave was because she fell in love with Varies and gave them up for adventure and practically told them to go fuck themselves. Brenna has chosen to pipe in with her own opinion on the issue but Roderick had only yelled at her for it.

"What would you fucking know about what Sierra wanted!, your just some bitch who she had the hots for while she was dating me and sam! I bet your not even really her friend! You probably only care about being able to whine and complain to her!"

Of course when someone yells at her she isn't one to just take it laying down so she yelled back at the other. Uncaring if her words hurt him or not.

"As if! Your a whiny bitch asshole! I can't tell you how many times Sierra has come to me talking about how hopeless she feels when it comes to making your ass feel better because all you care about is laying around and moping around like a little bitch!"

She may or may not have screamed out those words while getting into his face. Tears may or may not have been spilling down her cheeks at the sheer overwhelming emotional mess she was quickly becoming. The two of them continued throwing shade at each other until she yelled out.

"Sierra doesn't deserve an asshole like you! You fucking prick!"

Then of course Roderick decided in the heat of that moment to deal out the final straw that finally broke whatever patience Samantha may have had before all of this.

"Maybe Sierra should have never been born then."

What happened after that was a bit too quick for her mind to process what exactly went down. Her mind scrambled bits and pieces of it, some were missing clearly but she could remember what was supposed to be there nor could she really recall what order it happened in. All she could vaguely remember was Samantha snapping up from her chair and the white blur of her hand hitting hard against his face. A loud crack ringing out and ruby red blood spilling from his face while Samantha spoke quietly and full of Ice cold rage.

"Get out"

"W-what?"

His words were interrupted by him coughing up some blood that he had swallowed.

"Get out of here if your going to be a little bitch, me and Brenna are going to go out and in fours day's we're gonna be back. And if you aren't completely moved out i swear to whatever higher being that is watching over us right now that I will personally make you regret ever uttering those words. Now before I kick your ass to the curb personally myself get the fuck out of my kitchen."

The entire time not once had she raised her voice. Just that intimidating silent anger and icy hatred that had made the entire dulplex feel thirty degrees colder than before. Roderick had stumbled quickly to his feet and had ran off into the house most likely to his room to avoid what wrath Sam would bring upon him. Brenna couldn't get past the fact that both Samantha and Sierra seemed to be hard hitter's and alright when it came to throwing punches. No where near professional probably but definitely well versed in the art to be aware of how to hurt someone with a single swing. She could still vaguely remember Sam and tim talking with each other after that then remembered Sam grabbing her hand and leading her to the truck the two of them driving off, away from the dulplex. Brenna blinked slowly scrambling to try and remember exactly the finer points that happened after Sam had decked Roderick in the face. She huffed quietly to herself when her mind came up blank. Samantha glanced briefly to her when she heard the others sound of discontent.

"You alright?"

She huffed again brows furrowing in frustration at the question and her minds lack of clarity of the hours past events.

"I can't remember what happened exactly after you decked him in the face."

The red head said finally looking out the window beside her. Taking in the trees and occasional rural houses and other duplexes. She remembered vaguely that Sierra had been the one who had chosen this neighborhood for the dirty blondes home. It was a good one, a bit forested and surrounded in lush trees and homemade gardens. Sierra's own dulplex had a small flower garden that she figured the dirty blonde had made herself knowing her. It had a small barely a year old rose bush and several wildflowers swamping the small spot. It was odd looking but in the way that Brenna knew screamed out Sierra's doing.

Sam was quiet before she spoke up again.

"Well, I believe after I sucker punched him, Tim and I spoke briefly. Me mostly telling him to please make sure that Roderick was out of our fucking dulplex by the time we come back in four days."

Brenna blinked the moment Sam mentioned becoming crystal clear and more vivid than it had been mere seconds before.

"What did he say?"

Sam sighed before she let out a breathless chuckle shaking her head slightly, her shoulder length dirty blonde hair waving back and forth with the motion.

"He told me that Roderick pushed way too far with what he said, and that he would do the best he could before I come back."

Brenna watched the other taking in her quickly relaxing posture. A silent sigh of relief escaping her lips at the sight.

"So where are we going anyway?, you gonna drop me off at home or something? I mean I could have done that, I have a car after all."

Brenna said her eyes creasing in confusion, Sam hummed thoughtfully before she spoke up.

"Don't worry I'll stop by the house after this and you can head over back to your house."

Brenna nodded satisfied slightly with the other woman's answer. Before she grew confused again. Where were they going exactly?

"Where are we going?"

She asked again face creased in hesitation. Sam sighed before she finally answered, her blue green eyes focused intently on the road as she spoke two words that had Brenna's body going cold.

"Sierra's house."

The small single story yellow and brown roofed wasn't really Sierra's house. She didn't own it really, but she had lived there most of her life from what Brenna could gather from what Sierra had told her of her childhood and young adult life. It was technically Sierra mom's house but the dirty blonde's step father and half sister lived at the house as well. The red head always wondered occasionally how Sierra had lived in such a happy and cheery looking house and yet dealt with so many heart wrenching and mentally exhausting things. Brenna figured maybe it was that stupidly stubborn part of Sierra, she hated admitting it but the dirty blonde could be stubborn in such a passive way that had even herself shaking her head in tired annoyance. Sierra had many a conversation with Brenna about how stubbornness seemed to be a trait she and her brother along with her half sister had picked up from her mother and father. The dirty blondes father being the more aggressive and her mother more docile and a bigger pushover than even the dirty blonde herself could be. She had only ever met Sierra's mom, stepdad , her adorable half sister renya and of course drake. She could agree that it did seem that being confident and stubborn was a common trait but it didn't explain Sierras own demureness. Brenna had seen the dirty blonde at her most confident and stubborn and she could tell she was similar to her sibling's in more than just blood. 

She and Sam walked up the old concrete steps of Sierras old childhood home's front porch. Brenna glancing around taking in the sight of the neighborhood Sierra had grown up in. It made a lot of sense why Sierra acted the way she did when interacting with certain people, the red head had heard Sierra say things that she would have only ever heard spoken from a much darker skinned person. Though the dirty blonde never said the more controversial words. Something Sierra had explained several times to the red head during their friendship.

'I will never call anyone the n word fam, like hell i'm ever gonna say something that fucked up.'

Brenna smiled at the odd mixed neighborhood, cheap homes and nicely cared for yards, then of course the very low income houses farther down the road. It was no wonder to Brenna why Sierra was so neutral when it came to race. She had been around the entire rainbow essentially, of course she wouldn't see anyone as different from anyone else. Only as another person, a blank slate until proven otherwise. She snapped back into the present when she head Sam press the fancy high tech doorbell that Sierras step dad had installed nearly three years ago back when the dirty blonde had first graduated high school. It was one of those fancy ring doorbells that had a camera and was linked up to the phone. It was kinda creepy how much Sierras step dad cared about home security. Sierra had even told her once that she had seen the home camera system setup in her parents room and had gotten such a bad feeling from knowing that her step father was the one who watched it.

The two of them stepped back when the front door was opened by Sierra's mom, a average sized woman with crows feet at the corners of her eyes from how much she smiled and a fairly happy and Christian mother vibe about her. Something Sierra didn't hate about her exactly but could be less than content about it. It made sense when you took in the fact that the dirty blonde was bi, poly and gender fluid. From the few times Sierra had brought up her body dysphoria that had happened to really didn't help that she wasn't confident enough to go around wearing a binder or men's clothes on a daily basis let alone encouraging people to call her a him. Brenna knew Sierra had issues when it came to that situation along with everything else in her life. Sierras mom smiled at the two of them, her face just slightly darker than Sierra, her warm brown eyes not nearly showing off as much childish innocence as her eldest child, and her long dark red hair that came down past her shoulders; the color clearly not her natural shade.

"Samantha! It nice seeing you again!"

She spoke her face warm, gentle and motherly just like Sierra's own warm smiles could be at times when it was needed of her. Sam returned the older woman's smile with one of her smaller smiles. It didn't reach her eyes.

"It's good to see you too Sierras mom."

The older laughed slightly at the greeting before she finally opened the screen door and stood aside, inviting to two inside.

"Please just call me Kari Samantha, you've known my daughter for more than long enough now."

She gave a smile even as she seemed to openly avoid even mentioning the more than platonic relationship that her eldest child had with the dirty blonde. Sam nodded her smile growing slightly as she and Brenna walked into the house. Brenna being hit immediately with the jarring feeling of how much different Sierras childhood home was compared to her own. While hers was sparsely decorated and empty of many furnishings; Sierras was warm, welcoming and felt lived in and alive. She always had wondered why whenever Sierra had come over to her home for a sleepover why the dirty blonde seemed so tense and quieter in it. She remembered Sierra bringing it up several times that the house felt empty and cold.

'Like it's a new home that no ones really lived in yet. That's all really fam'

Sierras words resurfaced in her mind, a bittersweet feeling about them.

"It's surprising to see the both of you, I thought that Sierra would have at least warned me if the two of you were coming over. So I'm sorry if the house looks a bit messy."

Kari spoke an apologetic smile on her face as she walked to the open doored kitchen and the sounds of her opening the small refrigerator beside the doorway and grabbing a drink from it.

"It alright miss Kari! Your house looks really nice!"

Brenna spoke cringing as she struggled to ignore the fact that the older woman seemed to be unaware of the fact that Sierra wasn't exactly able to message anyone at the moment. Didn't anyone tell her that her daughter was gone? Hadn't anyone told her that she was reported missing by everyone who had been present at the party? Brenna glanced to Sam who had a neutral face up, not a single sign of her showing any frustration or confusion over the woman's words. Brenna could feel herself for numb.

"Thank you, I've been working on cleaning today while my hubby's out and renya plays in her room."

The older woman gave another warm smile though this one didn't quite reach her eyes nearly as much as the last few.

"Would you like anything to drink while your here?"

Sam spoke before Brenna could.

"No thank you Kari we were just stopping by to check how you were doing since"

The pregnant pause left by Sam's words was heavy and chilling. It grew even colder as Sierra's mother's smile slowly fell off of her face. Her warm brown eyes gaining a pained distant look to them and welling up slightly with unshed tears. Brenna hadn't expected The older woman to begin crying like she did. She curled into herself her hands pressed up close to her chest as she sobbed out softly her eyes squeezing shut as if she was in a great deal of pain. Brenna figured she would be, anyone would be if they knew the childish dirty blonde and found out that she went missing suddenly. Sam looked to her, eyes pleading before she jerked her head to the hallway that led to the bathroom and the other two bedroom's of the house. It was a silent order of go check on Sierras little sister. Brenna nodded quickly and slowly and awkwardly walked to the hallway and tried to ignore the sounds of Samantha trying to comfort me he older woman. Brenna had been invited several times to the house, either to pick Sierra up for a sleepover or to come have a sleepover at the house itself. The layout of it was basic and average for how it was. Nothing about it really too special other than the fact that what was once Sierras bedroom was right by the front door. Brenna wondered If Sierra had heard things best left unsaid in her room or arguments and things that showed someone's true colors. It was a concerning thought, if Sierra could hear well in her room what did that mean for the others in the house? She went down the hallway going the left to where there were two doors at the end of the hallway one a closet and the other renya's bedroom. The door was closed for the bedroom, a simple 'stay out' handmade paper sign taped to the front of it. The red head hesitated before knocking on the door, the sound of someone moving to the door barely audible. It was quiet for a moment before a young girls voice rang out.

"Yes?"

Brenna could hear how upset the younger sounded in her voice. She wondered how much Sierra's disappearance had affected her family exactly.

"Uh renya it's me Brenna, me and Sam came by to check up on how you and your mom was doing."

It was quiet again for a moment before the door opened, renya's face peeking out slightly from the crack she made before she opened the door and allowed the older inside of her room. 

Renya was much different looking than her brother or her sister. Long brown curly hair that reached slightly past her shoulders, and warm brown eyes that shone with an impish and sly intelligence that Brenna wouldn't have normally expected from a nine year old. Her skin three shades darker than drake's or Sierra's, mostly another one of the traits she had gained from her father. She was taller than most kids her age from what Brenna could remember Sierra telling her, and she believed her since the young girl was tall enough to reach the bottom of her chest. Then again maybe it was just genetics at play, or maybe renya was like Sierra when it came to the height department. The dirty blonde was a good foot taller than her own mother while her brother was a foot taller than her. Who knew how tall the young girl would get whenever puberty finally chose to hit. But regardless of any of these facts that passed through Brenna's mind as she entered into the young girls room she was hit with the sight of the large mess she was greeted with. She quietly gaped at the mess of books that looked like something Sierra may have gotten for the young girl or maybe even a library and all of them were about space. Papers and open spiral notebooks and compression journals laid about. All of them covered in what looked like messy and rushed handwriting and drawings of planets and animals that from what Brenna could see weren't anything from earth. Maybe she hoped it might have been a coincidence that she was drawing things like this and writing down things about planets as if she was in a panicked rush.

"Uh, wow what happened in here?"

Renya didn't say anything as she closed her bedroom door and pushed what looked like a small bookshelf in front of the door before she looked up to Brenna finally. Her eyes filled with a determination that Brenna felt belonged nowhere near a nine year olds face. The young girl seemed to hesitate slightly before she spoke finally.

"Sis is in space."

"What?"

Brenna had to hold herself back from shouting the single word out as she looked at the young curly haired in confusion.

"My sis is in space."

She repeated again, a look of determination on her face. Eyes scrunched together as she watched the older intently for any hint of something. Brenna had to hold herself back from agreeing with the younger.

"Uhhhh."

She looked around taking in the walls of the bedroom covered in drawings that were clearly from both Sierra and the curly brunette. She felt far too uncomfortable under the nine year olds intense gaze.

"H-how exactly do you know that for sure?"

Brenna prayed that she didn't just let the younger know that she already knew the older member of her family was on some alien planet probably having wacky adventures and hijinks knowing her. Renya spoke again her words making the older go tense.

"Drake told me, then after my mom and dad found out about her going missing I started having dreams about her."

She said as she went to her large messy piles of books, papers and notebooks. Grabbing one from the floor and going through the pages of it before she found the page she had been looking for.

"Look, she showed me in it that she was with someone like this!"

She pointed at the large drawing of a person who looked far to close to what varies may have looked without her disguise. Brenna carefully took the journal from the younger's hands taking in the rough and rushed drawing of the daemon. How was this possible? What the hell was even going on here?

"Varies"

Brenna hadn't realized that she had muttered the daemons name until renya was yanking the journal from out of her hands and holding it close to her chest, a look of surprise on the nine year olds face.

"You know her?!"

She asked eyes desperate and surprised, before she smiled widely and jumped up and down before she cheered quietly.

"I knew it, I was right sis is in space! 

She smiled even wider, her eyes twinkling and creased up in joy.

"I gotta see her!, you know where she is right Brenna? Please can you take me to her? Please I need to see her!"

Brenna backed away from the now begging brunette, her warm brown eye pleading and filled with a hurt that Brenna knew all too well. Renya was missing her sister, missing her so much.

"Please I need to help her come home."

Her eyes were welling up with tears now, pain clear in them. Guilt filled Brenna, what could she say? Sierra was going to be gone for five months and most likely wouldn't be back until well into Christmas time. She broke under the younger weepy stare.

"I can't take you there, but don't worry she'll be back around Christmas I promise renya."

She hoped that was enough to calm the other, hoped that her words were good enough to help her heartache.

"Really? Do you think so?"

God Brenna hoped so, she and the other's that had been at the party had all exchanged phone numbers but hadn't said a word to one another since leaving the party. By the time it was all over it was already four days into August, and now it had been at least eight days since Sierras left for connection.

"I pinkie promise, your sister will be back in no time at all. But I need you to stay strong okay?"

Brenna didn't really know what to say but she knew she needed to at least let the other know to stay quiet about all of this unless she wanted to get in trouble with the same people that had caused Sierra to leave so quickly. She hated the idea of two more of those blank faced men going after a nine year old girl over her knowing about connection or varies. She grimaced at that thought before she went on, smiling slightly at the watery smile and short nod the younger gave her. Determination burning in her eyes.

"Good, your sis would want you to help your mom and family as best you could while she's gone. And I know she also would want you to stay quiet about this okay?"

Brenna blinked rapidly struggling to talk around the ball in her throat. Eyes burning with unshed tears.

"Some really....not nice people might try to hurt you if you tell anyone else about it okay?, but you can talk to me, Sam and your brother about it okay?"

Renya gave her another determined nod a look of understanding crossing her face before Brenna went on. Brenna was still impressed that Sierra helped teach this girl how to handle things like this. She had wondered if Sierra showing her sister things like outlast and talking about horror games and movies was ever a good idea, let alone about death but maybe the dirty blonde had been onto something. Considering how the young girl's dad could be at times over the simplest of things it might have been best that Sierra had taught her to be brave and stronger than most kids her age. Even if it might have not been the best choice she had made.

"Good and make sure to not tell your parents or any of your friends okay? It might get you or some of your sister's friends hurt okay?"

Another determined nod, Brenna hugged the little girl tightly awkwardly patting her back. She wasn't the best at physically comforting people, she was better with verbal reassurance's. She knew it was mostly because of her being autistic but still it was annoying not being as capable of comforting others like they would need. Renya hugged her back quietly crying as she held onto the older woman. Soft barely heard sobs escaping her lips before she held them back as she looked down at the floor of her rooms carpeted floor, taking in the sight of her black phone and the books she had been looking through and idea forming inside her head as she stared on. She opened her mouth to speak maybe bring up her idea to one of her sister's friends but she hesitated before deciding maybe she shouldn't mention it. Brenna pulled back eventually giving the younger a reassuring smile as best she could.

"You gonna be alright?"

The nine year old nodded her head, giving a smile to the older woman before opening her mouth to speak before Sam's voice called out to Brenna.

"Brenna come on!, we need to go."

Sam knocked on renya's rooms door. Brenna quick to stand up and carefully pushed the small bookshelf out of the way of the door before she stopped and looked back at renya. Taking in the look the younger gave her, a distracted look in her eyes before she smiled and waved goodbye to the red head.

"Bye Brenna!"

Brenna nodded before she left the room closing the door behind her and left the brunette by herself. Renya was quiet for a moment, unmoving just focusing on the sounds of Brenna and Samantha leaving the house and the eventual sounds of her big sister's girlfriends car doors slamming shut. Before she finally heard the sounds of car wheels rolling against the tar of the street. Her sister had been the one to point out the sounds, and helped the younger realize what those sounds were. It helped whenever she was being a bit sneaky doing something her father wouldn't be happy seeing her do. So her ears were trained to the outside driveway whenever she knew her dad was out. It helped a lot more than she had ever expected it to. She quickly cleaned up her mess of library books that her mom had let her check out from the public library nearby; and notebooks and papers covered in the words she wrote about what her sister had told her about the world she was on. Facts about things she didn't quite understand yet but knew they were important to her sister. When she gather them all up into a neat stack she pushed the journals and papers underneath her bed and left the books out on the floor beside her bed neatly in a stack. When she determined that her room looked good enough and not too messy to look strange she left her room to see how her mother was doing. She was quiet as she slowly opened her door and silently went down the hallway till she looked out around the living room's doorway. Ears picking up her mother's soft cries from where she sat on the couch that she and her dad usually sat on, she always sat on it too but it always seemed to be her mom and dad's couch only. As if there was some unspoken rule about it. She was careful to not be seen as she peered around the doorway to look at her mother's weeping form. She hated seeing or hearing her mom cry, she knew her sister and dad hated it too but her father always seemed more annoyed about it than concerned. Her sister though? Her sister no matter who it was that was crying always seemed to share in their pain and would cry with them and hold them close to her. Speaking reassuring words and always telling them about how much worse it could be for them and how they should be happy that they are only going through this pain and not something far worse. She never said it in a rude or hateful way, always a understanding and kind way. Her eyes full of knowing of the different ways to be hurt that there were in the world. Renya always wondered how her sister knew so much, maybe it had been because of how much her sister read or how many videos she watched online that gave her tidbits of all kinds of information that she would mention or bring up whenever.

Renya watched as her mother cried holding one of the framed pictures of her big sister, it was an older one from what she could tell. One of the few with just her sister in it instead of the many family pictures that were framed around the house. She was careful to be silent as she sat beside her mother and hugged her tightly, pressing her mom's head against her chest. The sight heartwarming as well as comical in the fact that she was only a third of her mother's height and size. She petted back her mother's hair as her mom returned the embrace and buried her face into her youngest daughter's shoulder, a hand pressed up against the back of her head, fingers weaving into soft brown curls as she held her daughter close and her sobs grew loudly slightly before she tried to quiet them not nearly being as successful as the older woman would've liked to admit. After a quiet moment renya finally spoke up quietly, her arm's wrapped around her mother's head and shoulders.

"Shhh it's gonna be okay mom, sis is gonna come home I just know it. She'd want you to be happy for her, she wouldn't want you to cry okay?"

She struggled to speak even as she wanted to cry with mother but she managed to hold it back. She had to make her mom happy and make sure she was okay.

"It's gonna be okay I promise, sis is gonna come back and she'll tell us all about what happened and maybe we'll even hangout with her and drake again when she come back."

Her mother nodded agreeing with her words before she pulled back and smiled down at her youngest child. Petting back her daughter's hair and brushing any of the few strands of hair that had slipped into the front of her face. The two were quiet before they held onto one another, mother and daughter silent as they wished for the same thing. Their loved family member to come home safe and sound. Renya silent even as she went about thinking of an idea for what to do, her mind going to thoughts of her phone and hoping her brother might be able to help her out with it. She hoped that he would, or at least not be rude to her when she brought up her plan to him. He really should be more nice to her, they were family after all.


	22. Chapter 21: clowns, biology and foreshadowing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> sierra realizes some more aspect's of her new status as a magi hybrid. she and koukai fly back home and sierra attempt's to take a bath to warm up after the chilling fly. a freighting, concerning and confusing event happens that leaves sierra, koukai and the other animal's at the cottage on edge. sierra calls taz and tell's the irken what happened and a sleepover is planned.

When Sierra eventually decided to pick herself up from her depressive mood the sun was well on its way to start setting. The hybrid was annoyed but uncaring about it as she decided maybe her and koukai should just enjoy the sunset from here instead of the moss covered roof of her home. She went about setting up a few fairy lights that she had in her capthaloge card deck from the party at the campsite back on earth. She tried to not remember exactly how many people she had left there that last night. She wouldn't right now, she would allow herself this time to compose herself and figure out what to do while on the new planet. It wasn't selfish of her to just want to ignore the situation just for a little bit. It was normal and completely healthy and reasonable.

"Yep, not selfish whatsoever! Everyone does this kinda thing!"

She said to herself as she placed the fairy lights along the bank of the lake. Turning them on as she placed them down, glad the batteries for them were still good enough for them to light up fairly bright. Smiling to herself as the sky slowly grew darker till it was a burnt orange with tints of pink and the barest hints of the oncoming dark purple evening sky. She hummed pleased as she soaked her feet in the lake, tempted to go swimming in the body of water again. Koukai sat beside her, his body pressed up against her side. The weight and warmth emanating from him giving her comfort that soothed her worries about her life back on earth. They would be fine, they've been fine before when she would go radio silent for a month or two. They would be fine with her being gone for five months on their end. Though she had to wonder how did her mom and dad react to her disappearance, did they try throwing the blame at one another or did they actually get told about the real situation from her chosen family? She couldn't help hoping that was what happened but she held off on letting her mind go down that train of thought. Instead she focused more on the lake before her. She could still feel the thin slits that had formed on each side of her throat. They were sore and burned painfully when she gently grazed them with her fingertips but otherwise they didn't ache too much. She figured they needed to heal before she could go about poking and prodding at them. Analyzing her own body yet again as it went through more changes. She wondered if the new physical change had anything to deal with her swimming in the lake. Maybe water was her second element, and maybe spirit was her third one? The thought had her wracking her brain before she questioned if she should go about reading more information on her newfound species.

'Maybe I should give myself some time before I go diving into that dumpster fire again.'

She thought to herself before weighing the pros and cons of the information she would gain compared to her going through another bout of realizing she was no longer human.

"Ah fuck it, why the hell not."

She spoke aloud as she retrieved her phone from her capthaloge deck and turned it on quickly finding the spot she had been before on the webpage.

'Magi's/hybrids depending on their elements that they are best at may also develop/show some more unique physical changes to help match and assist with using said elements. This process can happen in any of the three pupation stages in a magi/hybrids life cycle. But it is fairly common for it to happen during the first stage and may even happen during on of the rejections of their old organs and growing new ones. Examples of this can range from developing slits along the torso and throat for underwater lungs/gills to developing increased strength and the ability to have a sort of "double vision" when using their magic. Others can also include as follows:

•clearer vision underwater  
•ability to hear plants and animals thoughts/feelings/voice  
•flight speed increase  
•increased paranoia and the ability to foretell the future and what may happen in it (though it should be kept in mind that these sensations can change quickly or not at all depending on the situation and should be taken with a slight grain of salt as spirit magi's/hybrids can get caught up in their own paranoia to the point where they will forget about worrying about there surroundings)  
•fire resistance (many fire magi's/hybrids gain this within the first pupation stage)  
•increased sense of smell/hearing/and vision (this is common with wind,water and earth magi's/hybrids)  
•larger lungs that are capable to breath in higher altitudes than normal  
•developing fins instead of wings, and webbing on hands and feet.  
•a harder rock like physical toughness to the skin (common in fire/earth magi's/hybrids though can happen for water ones as well)  
•thicker skin that helps contain heat better in cold waters or cold weather  
•sharper teeth and nails (this is very common with earth and water magi/hybrids)  
•bird-like wings instead of the normal butterfly moth variety (this usually occurs for air/wind magi/hybrids though this is a trait that can be uncommonly found in other elements)  
•dragon-like wings or reptilian-esqe ones (fire magi/hybrids most commonly develop these but there are a few rare cases of it developing for other elements as well)

There are many more examples out in the world but this is a rough list of the more common ones that a magi/hybrid may develop.'

Sierra nodded in understanding as she looked up from her phone to the lake's surface again. It made sense that she would be alright in the water element and earth. She always found herself getting lost in herself whenever she went swimming, was surrounded by plants, and whenever there was a fire lit up around her. She could remember clearly just staring at all three elements and feeling herself get lost in them. Watching a flame melt a candle till it was nearly gone, or when she went to a botanical garden once with her family and just felt giddy and happy being surrounded by all of the plants and life. She always thought it had been just a coincidence but maybe, maybe it hadn't. She frowned at that thought, a sudden realization coming to her. If she had a connection to these three elements then why did she have one with spirit too? She checked online again bookmarking the webpage incase she ever needed to read up more on her pupation process. She typed up quickly

'Can magis have more than one element?'

She was surprised to get an answer so quickly but not one she wanted. Let alone the answer confused her greatly and made a chill of dread fill her body.

'Magi's and there hybrids are capable of being naturally attracted to no more than three elements before their first pupation stage, but they are capable of learning how to use more than the three after they are finished with the first stage of pupation.'

She stared at the words hoping that her eyes were just playing a trick on her, but they didn't change. Her eyes were fine. She felt as if she accidentally discovered something about herself that she wasn't supposed to. It had always been odd how much she could sense what she assumed was the spirit element. Nights of waking up in the middle of the night feeling someone standing in her room watching her. Someone she felt she should see but for some reason couldn't. Her near endless dreams she would have of the future, the terrifyingly accurate feelings she would get about future events before they would happen. Being able to sense spirits and see demons like Sam. Something wasn't adding up and she wasn't sure that she liked it.

'Don't look a gift horse in its mouth'

She told herself as she put away her phone again into her capthaloge deck. Nervous energy filling her as she decided maybe it was best if she tried to not think about it for now. If she was getting nervous like she was it couldn't be good for her health to find out where this odd 'gift' of hers came from.

Sierra has long since shucked off her wet clothes aside from her undergarments as she decided to start swimming again. The lake water cool against the freshly formed slits on her throat. Koukai had long since jumped into the small lake enjoying the coolness of the water. Relaxing on the bank of the lake that was closest to Sierras small pile of soaked clothes that smelt strongly of lake water and fish. The hybrid of course having wrinkled her nose at the scent of it wishing she had brought another set of clothes with her. She dove under the water's surface sparingly making sure to not cause koukai any more worry than what he had already gone through today. She still felt guilty at making the Minerva worry about her so much. She was underwater now, her eyes taking in the sights of the fully glowing luminescent algae and plant life that grew at the bottom of the lake. Soft and gentle neon blues and greens were intermixed with one another. The sight making her smile as she swam deeper trying to reach the bottom of the lake. Turtles with strange white and black markings and frill like edges to their shells swam past her. Small and medium sized fish flitted in-between her fingers, silvery white scales and pale white fins were details she picked up on. Deeper she went, surprised that her lungs weren't burning quite yet with the need for air. Then again she had read that larger lungs for swimming underwater was capable of being formed. She still wondered if she did form gills like the webpage said. She was careful when she brought up one of her hands up to her neck, fingers gently pressing up against the slit jerking her hands away as it fluttered at the touch. She glanced upward at the surface of the water, tempted to swim back up before she tried to attempt breathing underwater lest she accidentally drown herself. Somehow. She swam up, arms and legs guiding her upward towards the surface. She gasped in air as she finally broke the surface, coughing slightly as some water got into her throat. She shook her head before she swam to koukai,smiling as he watched come up to him. The Minerva's lower half being the only thing really submerged in the water. She patted his slightly wet flank when she finally made it beside him, laughing loudly when he leaned down licking the side of her face coating it in a thin film of saliva making her grimace before rinsing her face off with the clean and fresh lake water.

"Ugh koukai gross!, Jesus I think you even got some of it in my hair!"

All she got from her complaint was his warm playful chortling purr. The sound of it alone making her break into a warm smile even as she washed away more of the larger creature's spit.

"Okay okay fine I forgive you bud, but your still gross for doing that."

She teased as he pressed his head up against the side of her body. A rumbling churr emanating from him as she spoke to him. She really did care a lot for him, more than she had expected to honestly. He was sassy and a big cuddle bug at that, always following Sierra closely and constantly demanding to be pet or held. He always seemed to prefer being smaller rather than his current larger size. She leaned back taking in his two story height and how he was about as long as an average car. When he had first gotten that large around Sierra she had stared at him in shock. Of course that was before she realized that she could literally ride the Minerva into battle if she ever wanted to. Naturally this made the magi when she first realized this to play a practical joke on a certain daemon. Varies still got annoyed whenever she brought up the incident in the slightest. She honestly hadn't expected the daemon to get as spooked as she did, nor had she expected her to fall into that fresh mud puddle and get soaked thoroughly with mud and rain water. Varies still swore that she could feel mud in her hair even a week after the incident. Sierra couldn't help but feel apologetic for causing the incident, but on the other hand. It had been comical watching the daemon's face turn into shock and a comical expression of horror that the hybrid called in secret the 'screaming varies'. The name was still a working title but it was growing on her. The thought of the daemon alone had her smiling even as she leaned back and laid down on the lakes bank. Water covering her completely aside from her face and the barest bits of her chest and legs. It was nice relaxing like this after her panic attack earlier. She still felt the vestiges of her prior panic even if her body was relaxed and at peace. Her mind was still a fragile war zone, a mess of emotions and barely restrained self-hate. If she allowed herself to go back down the mental path she had before she would definitely give herself another one.

"Hey koukai? Do you think I can breathe underwater now?"

She asked quick to divert her attention away from her darkening thoughts. Koukai huffed at her question leaning down to get a better look at her before he spoke.

'I'm not sure if that's something to test out so soon after your panic earlier.'

The Minerva had a point in his words, even as Sierra wanted to be stubborn and quick to jump into the idea of testing out her latest theory on her own body. She opened her mouth to speak before she closed it and nodded in agreement with him.

"Yeah i guess you're right about that."

She sat up from the water, leaning against Koukai's flank. Her body greedily soaking up the heat emanating from his body. She shivered slightly as the wind blew through, the cool air chilling her.

"Oh fuck, god it's cold."

Koukai chortled at her shivering before he got up from the water and made his way out of the lake.

"Shit! Wait up you dick!"

The hybrid called out to him as she quickly got to her feet and raced after him grabbing her wet clothes and capthaloging them as he went about stretching and getting ready to take off. She was quick to jump onto his back when he leaned down in a sphinx pose. Hands scrabbling to drag her to the back of his neck. Fingers holding onto handfuls of barely wet feathers and fur, as she hoisted herself at her usual spot at the back of his neck as he began to run his wings flapping just as she ducked down and held tightly onto him, feeling her stomach dropping as the weightlessness of flight take hold. Her body alight with adrenaline and energy as he finally flew up into the air, his wings flapping as they rose higher into the air above the lakes clearing. Sierra smiling widely as she looked back at the sight of the lake growing smaller before she realized something.

"Fuck! I left the fairy lights!"

Of course she didn't make Koukai go back for them, she would get them the next time they went to the lake clearing. At least she hoped she would remember to grab them next time. If anything she was more focused on taking in the sight of the sun setting as her and Koukai flew home. Her sitting on his back finally brave enough to sit upright and take in the sight of the evening sky as they flew. Clouds were alight with warm oranges, yellows, and the barest hints of pink and purple. She had a feeling they were probably going to make it home well after it got dark from how quick the sun was setting. At least that's what she was thinking, but she never could be too sure with how unpredictable life could be. Though she did have to admit that she wouldn't have it any other way. Soon yellows and warm oranges were replaced with cool pinks and purples, speckles of star's beginning to shine through the clouds as Koukai and her finally reached the house. The lights were still on inside as usual, and the small cottage was just as homely looking as Sierra had left it. She chattered and shivered as she smiled at the sight of her home away from home. Koukai quick to land onto his feet the hybrid sliding off of him and racing for the door. Chanting with shivering teeth, cold from her lack of suitable clothing and having been literally blow dried by the wind alone.

"Cold, cold,cold, sweet Jesus why is it so god damn cold."

The hybrid shrieked slightly from every icy step she took across the cool grass. Normally she would have appreciated the coolness of it but when she was wearing nothing but a sports bra and underwear while chilled to the bone from the wind having chilled her half frozen? She would rather have been forced to eat a live worm than deal with the pain of freezing her tits off. Koukai ran after her, shrinking down to the size of a large dog. She had to admit it was still worth it swimming in the lake far too close to evening, and she didn't dare regret swimming whatsoever.

She sighed deeply as she sunk into the pleasantly warm water, the small bit of chill dissipating quickly and effectively. The pleasant and gentle smell of vanilla and lavender permeated the air, lulling anyone who breathed it in to relax and feel comforted. Sierra relaxed and laid back in the tub, body relaxed and free of any tension or chill from before. The small bit of lavender oil that she had put in the water helped sooth her mind and body. While the two French vanilla candles she had lit helped give the room a more gentle and sweet scent. Gentle music played throughout the bathroom, the music coming from her laptop. A small array of lotions and perfumes sat next to the tub on the floor. The hybrid hoping to use them after she was finished with her second bath of the day. Sure she was 22 but she would be damned if she wouldn't allow herself this luxury known as a bath. It was nice to just lay back, relax and let her worries of the world just pass her by. She tried to ignore the whine from koukai though. Especially considering his head was resting on the rim of the tub that was closet to her face. Nope she wasn't going to let the Minerva and his whining get to her. Even if he was just whining because he wanted in the tub himself. She knew the Minerva had a love hate relationship with swimming and all things water related, or rather he only liked the water when he wanted too; something she discovered weeks ago. Or rather varies discovered by complete accident, from trying to give him a bath herself. Of course that hadn't planned out well for the daemon. Koukai having ran out of the bathroom soaking wet and hissing and crowing loudly his feathery crown and frills puffed up like an angry cat. Quickly followed by varies clothes soaked through with water running after him. No one could ever really forget an event as comical as that one. Sierra would have been lying if she had said she wasn't laughing so hard that she was crying on the couch, holding her stomach as she laughed. Though this still didn't stop her from thinking of hoping koukai would eventually leave her be.

'No, just ignore him. He'll stop begging me to let him in the tub eventually.....right?'

She really wished she hadn't thought that because as soon as her mind had even formed it there was a loud scrabbling beside her head. The loud sound of claws and talons forcing something up, or rather someone. She looked up seeing the Minerva heaving himself up onto the edge of the tub back talons barely holding onto the rim of the tub before he crowed at her.

"Oh shiiii!"

Sierra's words were promptly silenced and muffled as koukai leaped into the bath water loudly. Wings and fur muffling her frustrated shouts, before she finally sat up in the tub letting koukai sit down into the warm water before her. She sputtered slightly spitting out any fur that had gotten on her lips and in her mouth. She quickly reached down and grabbed one of the towels beside the tub ignoring that they were now slightly wet from koukai suddenly jumping into the tub. She didn't honestly care at that moment as she wiped at her face and tongue. Spitting and sputtering as she did so.

"Koukai you dick! You almost crushed me."

She spoke up irritation in her voice as she glared back at the Minerva that was sitting in the tub. His tail wagging in the water even as she pushed at him to get off of her and out of the tub.

"Koukai! You know your not allowed in the tub when I'm in it."

She said as she proceeded to wrap her arms around the Minerva's middle and lifted him up from the tub. Standing up as she did so before she quickly and gently placed him out of the tub grunting slightly from his weight and his slight struggling in her hold. She grimaced at her body after he was on the bathroom floor, claws and talons clicking against the tiled floor as he ran off quickly; shaking his body and spraying water everywhere around the house as he went. She groaned at the sound of his body shaking and his wings flapping wildly from the hallway as she tried to wipe off the small bit of fur that was on her chest and stomach now from his sudden jumping into her bath. When the fur didn't come off the hybrid sighed annoyed before she decided that maybe just maybe she was done with bath's for a bit. She pulled the drain plug and quickly got out of the tub, careful to step onto the bathroom rug beside the tub.

"There goes my relaxing bath I guess."

She mumbled to herself with a sigh as she wrapped the two towels around herself before she decided to get it over with and started drying herself off. Hoping that when she did get fully dressed she would be able to clean up the damage koukai might have caused quickly. She sighed again as she grabbed her clothes and closed the bathroom door, getting to work and getting changed.

Thankfully the splattering of water koukai had shaken off of himself wasn't too big of a mess. If anything the biggest mess caused by the Minerva's path of destruction was the sheer amount of water that had managed to splash out of the tub from when he had jumped into it. Sierra has to admit she was a little frustrated with the Minerva though she did forgive him as soon as he came running up to her after she came out wearing her slightly wet clothes; her clothes hadn't exactly been safe from the reach of koukai's splash radius. The Minerva had churred up at her before he took her hand in his mouth and led her down the hallway towards where the end closet sat and pawed at the door before looking up at her expectingly. She of course opened it, she couldn't exactly say no to the cute fluff ball known as koukai. She had been surprised to see the several tiny lights floating in the closet watching them carefully as they gently floated out of the closet and about the hallway before floating into the rest of the house. They were eye catching, small and gentle to her eyes. She even had gotten a closer glimpse at one of the lights and smiled warmly at the sight of the tiny featureless curled up form of a person no bigger than pencil lead. They didn't have a mouth, hair or any other defining features other than arms, legs, body a head and a pair of closed eyes. They looked almost as if they were asleep, dreaming gently as they floated about. They looked so cute and mystical in a soft gentle way. Sierra allowed the one to float from her hands watching as it floated off deeper into her home. They were all different colors but glowed gently all the while. She stood there quietly just watching them float about before she quietly pulled out her phone and took a few pictures of the strange sight. She would have to definitely ask varies if she knew what the little glowing lights were. She smiled again as she put away her phone and looked down at koukai who stood beside her his tail wagging all the while. She chuckled shaking her head, a warm smile on her face as she spoke.

"Alright I forgive you. Your still a dork though."

The only response she got was a churr from the large dog sized Minerva. She smiled as she scratched the top of his head and around his crown of feathers. She couldn't stay mad at him, not when he was this cute.

Sierra and koukai eventually relaxed on the couch again, Sierra finishing up the rest of spirited away before she grew hungry again and made a quick thing of instant noodles. Two packs of the noodles going into a boiling pot of water as she stood and waited at the counter for the noodles to cook. She was used to making her instant noodles with a microwave and a bowl but this would do until she and varies got around to buying one. She tapped her feet in time with the music playing from her MP3 player, purple earbuds in her ears as she let the music play and her body move in time with the music. Legs and hands twitching in time with each beat drop and lyrical word. Music had always been something Sierra had been more than interested in. Dancing and singing were more secretive hobbies of hers but she always had been more than hesitant in showing off her abilities. Fast pace songs that gave her chills and made her body move quickly and with a rhythm she couldn't place her finger on. Though the more mournful songs and tunes were the ones she was more than ready to sing. They were easier to sing along with since the lyrics came out slower for her and she could easily keep up with the deep passionate painfully melodic notes. She had back during her fifth grade her school had a talent show and she had decided to at the last minute get into the show. It had been more awkward than she would have liked to admit but she had managed to sing a simple tune that had many of the other fifth graders surprised at her singing. Then of course there had been her time one summer during her middle school years where she went to a dance class. It had been more hip hop and rap dances but she hadn't cared. She had been pretty good at what she did but she didn't really know how to socialize like most people around her. She knew she was awkward and clunky in a way others weren't and she only polished and refined more so after she entered high school. Sierra snapped out of her wandering thoughts at the sound of water boiling over and hitting hot metal and hissing as it evaporated.

"Shit!, shit! shit!"

She swore as she quickly lowered the heat and stirred the noodles lifting up the spoon and taking a look at the noodles. Smiling contently that they looked done. She was quick to strain the noodles into the large colander in the sink before pouring most of the noodles into a bowl for herself and the rest into a bowl for koukai. Quick to pour the seasoning packets into the bowls before stirring it in. Watching the pale white noodles gain a more tan and slight brown color, the smell of beef thick in the air as she set the two bowls aside to cool a bit before she went about washing the dishes from the day. Despite the many changes she had since coming to connection and meeting with varies, she was still herself. A bit more emotional than normal but still herself. Calmly cleaning the dishes with an almost air of calm serenity about her. She always had gotten like that whenever he was cleaning or organizing. It was a nice thing for her to do to keep herself busy for a few hours and it would help let her think about some things that were on her mind. Not like she ever did stop thinking exactly, even when she was falling asleep her mind always seemed to be going on about something. Be it the one time she had almost been caught yelling a swear in her middle school's crowded hallway, or the one time she had though about the possibility of her becoming a comedian that used exclusively puns. Of course the comedian thing wouldn't exactly go anywhere other than online to be laughed and mocked at but she still persisted. She finished cleaning the dishes fairly quickly, then again it wasn't like there was a lot in the first place. Sierra dried her hands off on her pant legs and grabbed the two bowls, koukai quick to follow her closely his attention focused on his bowl.

"Alright alright chill out bud, imma give it to you. Just give me a sec okay?"

She said as she held the bowls out of his reach and quickly made her way to the couch and sat down. Placing koukai's bowl on the ground beside her before she set her own bowl in her lap. Smiling contently at the warmth emanating from the bowl before she began digging into her meal. Koukai following suit, eating his small serving of noodles with gusto. Sierra has been more than please to have learned that bonded Minerva could eat whatever their bonded could along with what they were capable of eating naturally. Of course that meant smaller servings for the Minerva but the hybrid doubted anyone had an issue with that, at least she hoped no one had an issue with it. She leaned back into the couch and watched the television as she ate her noodles. Watching the unique commercials and shows that seemed to be common on the planet. She was watching another animated show called 'reverse twister' she didn't understand exactly why it was called that but the show itself was pretty damn good. It was about a small group of three friends going about their high school lives while dealing with the crazy Hijinks that happened. Sierra couldn't help chuckling at some of the antics going on in the episode. The indigo blooded troll of the trio named saflic was trying to help her friends win a talent show by trying to master the art of juggling. Sierra laughed when the jester like troll balanced herself on top of a large gold and purple ball and juggled a good dozen eggs. The hybrid did have to agree she didn't understand some of the jokes but nether the less she already was growing to love the show.

"Time to add this show to my list of favorites from here."

She said smiling at the holoscreen as she pressed a button on the remote that varies had shown her that would favorite a specific show so she could watch any of the episodes that would air or had aired. It was definitely a smart idea on connection's part. She wondered if television back on earth would come up with ideas like this.

'I mean they probably already have but I wouldn't know that for certain.'

She thought, her mind going to what little she knew about the live streaming services back on earth. She barely knew the bare minimum and even then she was a bit clunky in that knowledge alone. She always preferred television more than Netflix or Hulu. Not that she disliked them, she just was more used to television and being surprised than having to go through so many great shows and have to choose just one for an evening before rinsing and repeating. She focused back on the show, watching it with a smile as the trio won and hugged each other tightly. She always had been a sap for cute shows like this. They may have been simple but that's what made them so great. She yawned before she sat up picking up her and koukai's now empty bowls and took them to the sink. Sierra went about cleaning them, enjoying the sound of the holoscreen playing in the background along with the sounds of koukai cooing softly and sniffing around looking for one of the few chew toys that varies had picked up for him last week. Sierra had always preferred this kind of silence compared to dead silence. The kind of silence that was so quiet that it could drive you antsy and mad with unease. This one though? This one was more peaceful and domestic, almost homely in a way. She hummed softly to herself, bare feet tapping in tune with her random off beat humming; as she washed the dishes. Forks clean of grime and bowls clean of any specks of food. As she cleaned though, her hands covered in soap from the sponge she was using; she felt as if something loud was going to happen. She always perked up during these moment's, some animal part of her screaming that she should be careful; and she knew better than to not listen to it. Her old 3ds was more than proof enough, the poor red and silver game console fell into some water not long after her mind warned her of it. She went stiff and glanced at koukai who had went silent in his cooing and was just as perked up as her. The two of them stood still in that moment, even the holoscreen seemed quieter to the both of them as they listened for something that seemed to be readying itself. A few minutes went like that as they waited for whatever they were waiting for. When nothing happened Sierra was the first to relax and ease on her grip of the sponge and the now clean bowl. Slowly and carefully setting it down into the dish drainer next to the sink. The moment the bowl made the barest clink against the other dishes inside the dish drainer the hybrid held her breath her body growing stiff and still as her ears strained to listen for whatever might be outside causing her mind to go into the animalistic fear it was feeling. When nothing else happened she relaxed, hesitantly going back to cleaning the dishes, though she was much quieter about it than before. Even going as far as to grab the holoscreen remote and turning the tv off plunging her and koukai into silence. Not because the sound of the electronic annoyed them but because they needed silence to be able to hear whatever had gotten their attention. Minutes went by painfully, silence oppressive and humorless. Sierra was quick to finish washing the last few dishes, careful to near silently placing them into the dish drainer before carefully stepping over to where koukai stood near the back door his ears twisting around trying to pick up on the slightest sound from outside. The hybrid grew concerned suddenly as she picked up on a growing sensation of anger. Not from her or koukai but something outside; an anger like the build-up of frustration and helplessness that could swell into something explosive and destructive. The two started to turn their heads towards the area where they had come back from the lake when Sierra went stiff and quickly grabbed koukai. Her hold tight on him as she covered his body with her own when the loud booming shout came from outside. It was just as loud as someone yelling beside her but she could just feel that it was so much louder than what they could hear. Koukai squawked loudly from where he was hidden underneath Sierras torso. She herself had let out a surprised shout as she curled more over koukai, an animalistic part of her wanting to protect him from the loud sound that was still going on outside. She focused more on the sound and even through her disorientation from it realized that the sound wasn't a shout but rather a very specific sound that she had heard many times during a small time in her life. It was someone shouting the word honk, very loudly. Even with this realization she and koukai didn't dare move from their spot until the sound began to grow quieter. Long torturous minutes passed by before she finally sat up from where she had bent protectively over koukai. The two listening to the strange sound that grew quieter and quieter by the second, as if the creature or person making it was quickly growing tired. Soon before long the sound went quiet and the oppressive feeling from before dissipated. Leaving the two alone, fearful and confused.after a moment Sierra spoke up quietly her face twisted into one of genuine confusion and fear.

"Sweet mirth what the fuck just happened?"

Sierra of course after she and koukai had gotten their bearings, called Taz. Not because she thought the irken would know the best course of action to take, but because maybe she just really needed someone to vent to that wasn't someone who felt obligated to lie to her just to make her comfortable. Taz in the short amount of time the hybrid knew her, grew to understand that Tazmara didn't give two fucks about lying to her. If anything Taz was just as honest as Sierra was, maybe even more so to an extent. Maybe that was another reason Sierra was quickly becoming close friends with the irken. The two clicked together in a way Sierra had done with most of her friends before. Especially those who were very close to her. Samantha, Morgan, Brenna all of them had that click that made Sierra genuinely enjoy hanging out with them and she never seemed to grow tired of being around them like she would with others. Not that she hated any of her friends or anything, she just after awhile needed to have some time to herself to recuperate and recharge mentally and emotionally. Taz was familiar and reminded the hybrid in more than one way of herself. The irken was smarter than many would expect considering how childish she acted and how excitable she seemed to be. Than of course was the fact that Sierra trusted Taz more than most of her few friends on connection and the two had hungout with one another several times since their first meeting. Sierra and koukai were sat together in her indoor garden, huddled with some blankets around each other and the many other animals that resided in her home. Many of her animals had been driven into a panic after the loud shout and it had taken Sierra a moment to calm them all down. Especially poppy and Derek, considering they were already stressed with their small clutch of eggs that were nearing their hatching date. Which explained why the hybrid was currently sitting with a good three dozen animals huddled together and surrounded with the largest blanket she owned. A good majority of her mini-me's were perched in her hair and shoulders while poppy and Derek were sat together on their nest that was in front of her lap, then koukai was pressed up close to her right side occasionally letting out a whine as his ear were folded back; finally there were the autumn miglium's that were perched on her shoulders, chirping and clicking loudly as they groomed themselves worriedly.

'Mirth I hope that Taz can help me out with this shit.'

Sierra prayed to herself, as she pulled out her phone and went about calling up the lilac eyed irken. The phone rang twice before the irken finally picked up. Her chipper voice speaking immediately as she answered it.

"Yello'! what's up Sierra?"

Sierra sighed grateful when the irken's cheerful voice came through her phone.

"Sup Taz! I uh- so this is gonna sound weird but just hear me out."

Sierra felt her nerves getting the best of her as she could feel her adrenaline finally coming down from earlier but she pushed on.

"Okay? Go on dude."

"So me and koukai and all of my other animals were chilling tonight right?"

"Ye? Wait just you and your animals where's varies?"

Sierra mentally groaned at the question realizing that she hadn't told anyone today about varies going out for her job trip.

"She's on a work related trip for like four days but that's not important right now fam."

"Okay, so what happened?"

"So after me and koukai had finished eating dinner I went to go wash our dishes and all when I got this weird feeling. Like I felt like I had to get ready for something that was about to happen."

She got an affirmative sound from taz's end before she went on.

"And koukai was getting it too so me and him kinda just stood there dead quiet just waiting for something to happen."

"Did anything happen?"

"Well-not at first. It was really quiet for a bit and I finished the dishes really quickly and turned off our tv so me and him could hear the outside better just in case."

She got another affirmative sound from the irken before she went on.

"Then when I went over to where koukai was it finally happened."

"What happened?"

Sierra was silent for a moment, her mind trying to remember the finer points of the shout and how she had felt during it all. Taz started to repeat her question before Sierra continued speaking.

"Sierra? What happ-"

"Sorry I just had to think a little bit more about how to describe what happened, it was really weird."

"Nah it's fine fam, what happened though?"

"Well"

Sierra started again before she felt a slight tremble go through her body before she went on.

"Y'know that feeling where when you just have enough of holding in your anger and somebody just pushes your last button and you just kinda go off?"

Sierra waited for a bit as Taz seemed to think about the question for a bit. Soft humming and questioning sounds coming from the other end. Finally Taz spoke up again.

"Yeah I know what you mean, it's like a dam bursting right?, or something big breaking from the pressure of it."

Sierra smiled thankful that the irken understood what she meant.

"Yeah exactly like that but imagine that everyone around you could feel it, and that it was about three times more violent."

Taz took a sharp intake of air at that.

"Your kidding? I mean that sounds pretty terrifying Sierra."

"Oh I know but that's not really that surprising for me, I mean I know that feeling from experience but anyway. There's more fam."

"No way"

The irken's voice was filled with disbelief making Sierra go on. Urgency filling her, memories of telling her family and some of her friends about her strange prophetic dreams and 'vibes' she would feel about a day or an event before said event would happen. She had back then and she would have them still no matter what.

"No I'm being serious here, I'm not kidding at all and I know I wouldn't joke about this kinda stuff Taz."

The hybrid poured as much honesty and genuine seriousness into her words. The sense of hopelessness starting to chip at her resolve and slight trust of the irken.

"Woah! Sierra I wasn't saying I don't believe you, I do! I just it's kinda terrifying hearing you talk about this stuff is all!"

Sierra sighed before agreeing with the others words.

"Yeah your right, it is pretty scary talking about, let alone hearing about it."

Taz was silent for a minute before she spoke up again, her voice apologetic.

"I'm sorry if I came off as rude Sierra, I wasn't trying to be honest!"

"No, no it's fine I know you meant well it's just-"

Sierra sighed before she spoke up again, her free hand scratching behind koukai's ear as she spoke.

"I guess the way you said no reminded me of something back on earth."

"Oh"

Taz spoke the single word with a tone of genuine understanding. Guilt immediately slipped into Sierras heart at the sound.

"Hey! It's okay you didn't know and 'sides that just means that I have more to work on for myself while I'm here on connection."

Taz was silent again, listening to the hybrid's words before she spoke up again.

"Well, I still wanna know what else happened tonight if you still wanna tell me?"

Sierra smiled down at her phone, even if Taz couldn't see her face she hoped that she could at least put all of her thankfulness into her words.

"Of course!, I was gonna tell you regardless Taz!"

The two of them chuckled, the more happy and peaceful understanding feeling returning before Sierra went on with describing what had happened.

"So me and koukai got really tense and worried and then I,"

Sierra paused struggling to choose the correct words for what she had felt exactly in that moment. Had it been fear mixed with anger and hopelessness? Something mixed together into a dangerous and potent cocktail of twisted and warped emotions and sensations. Comprehension of reality and imagination blurred to near indecipherable lines. It had been an oppressive and lost feeling almost, as if someone was wandering out in the wood blind and scared for their life. Sierra swallowed shallowly as something clicked in her mind about the moment.

"I just got this horrifying almost suffocating feeling, like whoever was outside was scared and terrified for their life. I don't know how I know they were scared but all I know is that they were trying to get away from something or someone and they weren't able to get away as quick or as well as they would've liked."

Taz was silent as Sierra went on describing the moment with almost a poetic lilt to her words.

"It was like they were angry and scared of how hurt them all at once but it was hard to tell which one they felt more than the other. All I know is that their still out there, hurt, scared and tired."

Sierra breathed heavily after she spoke her words, an unknown weight lifting off of her chest and shoulders. Where it had come from and where it went she didn't know. She jerked her head up when Taz spoke up.

"W-wow that sounds"

The irken took a sharp inhale before she continued.

"That sounds terrifying Sierra."

"Yeah"

The hybrid agreed nodding her head as she spoke.

"Yeah it does."

She took a shaky breath before going on.

"And that's not the rest of it. Whoever was out there screamed."

"Screamed?"

Taz asked from her end her voice full of fear and concern.

"Yeah they were screaming or so I thought at first, but as it went on it sounded more like someone was shouting out the word honk. Oddly enough."

She finished with a tired and worried chuckle that sounded two steps away from a hysterical manic breakdown.

"Honk? Really? But that doesn't make any sense."

"I know!, I know it doesn't! Like what the hell would a clown be doing in the woods this late anyway?"

Sierra's voice rose the barest hints of frustration peeking through her words slightly.

"The only clown that would be here in these woods for miles should be me last I checked!"

Sierra joked her tone growing near hysterical again.

"Okay okay there has to be a reason for this. Let's just relax and calm down okay?"

Taz said quickly, words short and clipped as she tried to soothe the others clear fear and hysteria. Sierra followed the other's command and forced herself to take in slow deep breaths before releasing them out of her mouth just as slowly.

"Right, your right. Me panicking isn't going to help us. I just, I'm still rattled and spooked about the whole thing. It was so goddamn freaking terrifying Taz. It's so hard to describe it but it was so loud, almost as if they were right next to me screaming."

Sierra spoke with forced calm and barely restrained panic and fear. Taz listened quietly on her end before she finally spoke.

"Why don't I just come over there?, that way we can figure out what's going on together, Incase it's something you and koukai aren't able to handle on your own"

Sierra fought the urge to suddenly snap at the irken for implying that she couldn't handle whatever this was to instead quickly shoot out an answer.

"I don't know, y'know how's varies has been lately when it comes to people coming over. Don't you think she'll get mad when she finds out you came over?"

"Find out? Dude is she not over there right now with you?"

At taz's eye opening words Sierra realized that maybe she had forgotten to tell the irken and her few friends on the planet about how varies had went on a work trip.

"Shit, I forgot to tell you earlier today! Varies went out on a work trip to I think"

The hybrid paused recalling the daemon's note.

"Sector eight? I think that was the sector she said she was going to?, hold on lemme check the note real quick."

She scanned her capthaloge deck before she spotted the folded up paper that she had unknowingly put up with some of her art papers. She swore quietly as she got a hold of the card and emptied it, quickly going through the mess of paper's that had doodles and more serious drawings and sketches over them before she finally found the note.

"Found it~!"

She sang out waving the folded paper with a smug smile that turned giddy as she went about opening it and looking over the words the daemon had written down for her.

"Oh okay! It doesn't say what sector she went too but she wrote down that she'll be gone for four days helping train new generals in training!"

Taz hummed from her end, listening to the others quick summary of the daemon general's note.

"So she left you a note?"

The irken asked something in her tone that Sierra couldn't quite determine as either impish joy or mischief. Both choices had her confused at the other's tone.

"Uh y-yeah? Is that weird?, I mean this isn't the first time she's left me a note when she left for work before I woke up so I don't think this is that weird?"

Her rambling was interrupted by the sound of Taz speaking up again, her voice filled with excitement.

"She's left you more than one note?!"

Sierra grew even more confused at the irken's apparent joy.

"Y-yeah of course she has?, Wait is there some 'connection thing' here that I'm missing?"

She asked confusion clear in her tone. Taz was quick to speak up, a bit too quick.

"No! No no it's not a connection thing! It's uh... shit, it's more of a online thing here than anything."

"Uh-huh, you don't say."

Needless to say Sierra was more than satisfied with that answer but she went on getting back to the topic from before.

"But anyway I guess your more than welcome to come over as long as you don't tell varies."

"What! Why? Isn't that a little rude to hide something like me coming over from her? I thought you didn't like lyi-"

"No your right I hate lying it's gets you nowhere, I'm just saying don't tell her because I want to be the one to tell her. Y'know how she gets around y'all. she gets super suspicious, than paranoid that I'm gonna get hurt and then she gets super over protective of me. I just don't want her to get the wrong idea if you accidentally misinform her about what were gonna do."

"I mean what are we going to do exactly Sierra?"

Sierra paused and gave her phone a tired look.

"Taz I thought you were asking to come over to like help me and koukai figure out why the fuck there was someone yelling in the woods at"

She paused looking at her phones clock before doing some mental math before she finished.

"Shit 8:35? Wow okay I guess eight o'clock at night is the new witching hour."

Taz gave out a low whistle before she spoke up again.

"Yeah I know what you mean, alright I'm getting my stuff ready as we speak!, I'll probably be over there in like an hour and a half? Hmm Y'know what I'll text you when I'm on my way over."

Sierra smiled, her body relaxing at the fact that she and koukai wouldn't be the only ones alone dealing with this strange event for much longer.

"Sounds like a plan, wait! Do you still remember how to get over here? If you don't me and koukai could just meet up with you. I mean if it's easier for you."

"Nah I'll be alright, thanks for the offer though. 'Sides it kinda hard to forget how to get to your place dude. You literally live in the woods at the edge of the city."

Sierra laughed with Taz at the joke.

"Yeah I guess your right, just be safe on your way over here. And I'll just make sure to let Varies know what's going on."

Taz made an affirmative noise before she spoke up again.

"Aye aye captain! I wish you luck with that!"

Sierra smiled before she bid Taz goodbye and wished her a safe trip again before she hung up her phone. She leaned back feeling her mental exhaustion come back from the day's events. Her head aching slightly before she glanced at the still unfolded note that's varies had left for her. She felt her body go stiff at the oncoming conversation she would have with the daemon before she swallowed what little hesitation she had and scrolled through her contacts on her phone and found the daemon's number. Sierra hesitated like she always did before calling someone, her mind swimming with paranoid thoughts.

'What if she's busy?, what if she doesn't want to talk to anyone right now?, what if?'

Sierra shook off her paranoia and pressed the contact and put the phone on speaker as the dial tone rang out in the still air of the cottage. Then varies picked up.


End file.
